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BV 1520 .B79 1921
Burroughs, Prince Emanuel,
1871-1948.
Building a succesful Sunday
school
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Building a Successful
Sunday School
Building a Successful
Sunday School
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By
P. E. BURROUGHS, D.D.
Author of ''The Present-Day Sunday School," "Winning
to Christ," " Church and Sunday-
School BuildingSt' etc.
New York
Chicago
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and
£di nburoh
Copyright, 1921, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
Printed in U. S. A.
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago : 1 7 North Wabash Ave.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh : 75 Princes Street
To My Wife
CORINNE GAYLE BURROUGHS
Contents
I. What is a Successful Sunday
School? 9
II. What a Successful Sunday School
Will Do 21
III. Organizing the Sunday School for
Success 31
IV. Securing Officers and Teachers . 41
V. Housing the Sunday School . . 46
VI. Problems in Housing the Sunday
School 57
VII. How TO Secure Needed Housing . 66
VIII. Some Good Church and Sunday-
School Buildings . . .73
IX. Remodeling Present Buildings . 82
X. Equipment for the Sunday School 91
XI. How TO Build a Sunday School . 100
XII. How to Build a Sunday School
(Contmued^ . . . . .108
XIII. Organizations Which Help to
Build the Sunday School . . 114
XIV. Social Life and the Success of the
Sunday School . . . .124
XV. Recreations in the Building of the
Sunday School . . . .136
7
8
Contents
XVI. Advertising the Sunday School . I4v
XVII. The Teachers* Meeting and the
Workers' Council . . .146
XVIII. Teacher Training Essential to
Success 151
XIX. Records in the Making of a Suc-
cessful Sunday School . .155
XX. Week-Day Work for the Sunday
School ..... 160
XXI. What of Special Days ? . . . 164
XXII. Standards for the Sunday School 169
XXIII. The Combined Service . . . 173
XXIV. Winning to Christ in the Sunday
School 178
Appendix: Suggested Questions . 186
WHAT IS A SUCCESSFUL SUNDAY
SCHOOL?
A LITTLE Sunday school in a small town
down in Mississippi has a limited constit-
uency and a narrow outlook. The school
has poor equipment and has never made claim to
superior methods or approved forms of organiza-
tion. But this little Sunday school is presided over
by a devout Bible-loving man who gathers to his
support reverent and faithful teachers. The school
is marked by an atmosphere of reverence and has
long been distinctly evangelistic and markedly mis-
sionary. A half dozen preachers have come out of
this Sunday school and the school has produced a
number of earnest missionaries. Is this a successful
Sunday school? -.
No one can claim that this little Mississippi Sun-
day school is an unqualified success. When its pu-
pils entered the ministry and went away to the theo-
logical seminary they were surprised and even pained
to find that their knowledge of the Bible was frag-
mentary and superficial. They knew practically
nothing of PauFs missionary journeys; they could
not trace the travels of Abraham; they had no con-
nected view of the life of our Lord ; they knew little
9
lO A Successful Sunday School
of the Messianic prophecies recorded in the Old
Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.
Measured by the Bible knowledge which it had im-
parted through the long receptive years that little
Sunday school had all but failed. Measured by the
type of character produced and by the finer spiritual
fruitage, that Sunday school was a marked success.
While it did some things in glorious fashion, it failed
at certain other important points. It was a suc-
cessful Sunday school, but its success was partial.
It did much, but it could have done much more.
A country Sunday school in Kentucky maintained
for many years a high standard of spiritual effi-
ciency and was blessed with remarkable spiritual
fruits. Mr. J served as superintendent and by
his quiet devout bearing and deep piety gave to the
school an atmosphere of reverence which left its last-
ing impress on the young life of the community.
From that Sunday school there went out a long line
of consecrated believing men and women, preachers,
missionaries. Christian workers, faithful souls who
have ever since called that little Sunday school
blessed.
Was this a successful Sunday school? Without
doubt It bore worthy fruit in its chosen realm and
thus achieved a measure of success. Considering its
limitations, it produced really wonderful results. Its
pupils were imbued with reverence; they were
brought early to accept Christ Jesus as Lord and
Saviour; they were deeply taught in the practical,
moral and spiritual things of life. In the light of
modern Sunday-school development, it is easy to see
What is a Successful Sunday School? il
that that Sunday school might have gone further
and done more for its pupils. It might have offered
them such fuller instruction and such wider training
as would have afforded a stronger foundation and a
more enduring usefulness. And yet who will say
that this was not a successful Sunday school?
It is not easy to define a successful Sunday school.
It is not easy to indicate the many elements which
go to make for success. Without undertaking an
exhaustive statement, it may suffice to say that the
Sunday school which lays claim to success must do
two things: (i) it must reach its constituency; (2)
it must teach its constituency.
A Sunday school, then, in order to be considered
in any sense successful must do these two things — it
must reach the people and it must teach the people.
It can hardly be said that one of these things is more
important than the other, since they are inter-de-
pendent. We cannot teach people unless we reach
them; when we reach people we will almost cer-
tainly teach them. A successful Sunday school
therefore is a school which reaches and teaches its
constituency. Mere bigness does not in itself consti-
tute a successful Sunday school. But no Sunday
school can be considered successful which is not
fairly reaching its constituency.
Mere bigness in numbers does not constitute a
really big Sunday school. A Sunday school with a
large enrollment and a large average attendance may
be essentially a little Sunday school. A Sunday
school with a small enrollment and a limited at-
tendance may be essentially a big Sunday school.
12 A Successful Sunday School
The church which with a membership of 2,000 in the
midst of a dense population offering almost unlim-
ited possibilities has a Sunday school numbering
1,000 probably has a little Sunday school. The
church which has a membership of one hundred in
the midst of a sparse population in which several
churches are making claims and yet has a Sunday
school of one hundred and fifty, probably has a big
Sunday school.
Any Sunday school which, knowing fully its con-
stituency and its obligations and clearly defining its
possibilities, is fairly reaching its possibilities, is in
so far a successful Sunday school. " Possibilities " !
The word is full of significance. It constitutes a
challenge. The word has come into frequent use
and has taken unto itself a definite meaning among
aggressive Sunday-school workers. Its very defi-
niteness marks the passage of Sunday-school effort
from the realm of the vague to the realm of intelli-
gent system.
" Mr. Superintendent, what are the possibilities of
your school; how large ought your school to be;
what membership is it possible for you to attain?"
We know many superintendents who will answer,
'not with a guess nor an estimate, but who can im-
mediately state the possibilities of their school, the
numbers which they might have in each department.
They have not simply the numbers, but the individual
addresses of all on whom they have claim or for
whom they may be properly responsible. Just as
the life insurance agent has an accurate list of his
"'possibilities," just as the enterprising real estate
What is a Successful Sunday School? 13
man knows by name and address his "prospects,"
so the efficient superintendent knows the people upon
whom his school may lay claim. The " possibilities "
of any Sunday school measure the responsibility and
the opportunity of that school. No school which has
not taken pains to know its possibilities and which
fails to take definite and intelligent steps to reach its
largest possible attendance, can be called a success-
ful Sunday school. No claims of quality in work
done, no claims of educational achievements, no
other accomplishments, can offset or atone for fail-
ure at this point. No school has a right to be a
little school. No superintendent has a right to have
a little school.
A big Sunday school! A school which however
small in numbers, however meager in attendance, is
yet reasonably reaching its possibilities; a school in-
stinct with the missionary spirit, an aggressive
school, a school which is sounding the conquering
note, a school whose parish is the world! Such a
school is essentially big. Such a school, big as meas-
ured not by mere numbers, but by worthy spirit and
by worthy achievement in reaching and teaching and
enlisting its real constituency, such a school surely is
the goal of every pastor and superintendent and
teacher. To be content with anything short of this
is to condemn ourselves of sloth and indifference in
a cause which ought to challenge the best that is
within us.
We enter no plea for mere bigness ; mere bigness
may represent the last word in real littleness. We
have scant sympathy with the nervous anxiety of
\y
i4 A Successful Sunday School
would-be conservatives, of self-conscious and self-
appointed critics w^lio continually warn us against
the perils of numbers. They have told us with a
grave air that the Book of Numbers is not the only
inspired book in the Bible and that this Book of
Numbers is not the most valuable of Scripture writ-
ings ! They insist, and very properly, that the Sun-
day school is a school, that it is primarily an educa-
tional institution; they go further and declare that
it is repugnant to the mission and the essential na-
ture of the institution to measure it by mere num-
bers. In all of which and so far they are quite right.
The Sunday school is a school, but this does not
mean that it is like other schools. It is a school, but
in its mission, in its text-book, in its essential nature,
it stands alone among schools. It is the Bible school,
the school of the church, the school of Christ; it is
essentially missionary in its purpose, as essentially
missionary as the church itself. It must be aggres-
sive if it will rightly represent that Saviour whose
parting word of command was that we should go
into all the world and make disciples of all nations.
We know two Sunday-school superintendents who
fairly represent two extreme conceptions of the Sun-
day school. One of these men is a trained and suc-
cessful educator. He has studied the philosophy
and the history of education ; he is a master of psy-
chology and feels a just pride in his standing and
achievements in the educational world. He runs his
Sunday school primarily as a school. He discour-
ages enthusiasm and makes light of emotion. He
measures all methods and all processes by educa-
What is a Successful Sunday School 1 15
tional standards. His final test is the deposit of in-
formation which his teachers have left with their
pupils. His school is dignified, but small; it con-
fines itself largely to effort in behalf of the sons and
daughters of its own church membership. Meas-
ured by ordinary educational standards, the school
is successful; measured by its vital moral and re-
ligious and evangelistic fruitage — well, one may in-
dulge serious questions, but one would hesitate to
speak dogmatically in this realm. The other super-
intendent is by nature and training a promoter; he
could put over a big real estate development or put
on the map a newly organized insurance company.
He is strong on promotion and is unexcelled when
it comes to arousing popular interest. All of his
fine powers of exploitation, his keen sense of adver-
tising values, his ability to kindle popular enthusi-
asm, these fine abilities he uses freely in the conduct
of his Sunday school. The result can easily be im-
agined. His school is large in numbers, full of en-
thusiasm and much in the limelight. It is to be
feared that its permanent fruits are not so abundant
or substantial as they might be.
Neither of these superintendents approximates the
ideal. Yet each of them is useful and each leads a
band of teachers whose loving and loyal service must
bear abundant fruit. Happily a superintendent does
not require to be ideal, or nearly so, in order to be
useful. These two superintendents are neighbours
and they are good friends; but they do not over-
admire each other as superintendents. Indeed, if
each could know what the other thinks and says of
l6 A Successful Sunday School
him as a superintendent, their relations might be
strained. The " educational " superintendent is
very sure that the "promoter" superintendent is
lowering the whole Sunday-school standard and
substituting "moonshine" and "pop-corn" for
more substantial things. On the other hand, the
superintendent with the gifts of the promoter ex-
hausts the resources of his vocabulary in the effort
to describe the dullness and stupidity of the methods
and policies presented by his neighbour.
It is easy to make light of "mere bigness." Big
Sunday schools are of course not necessarily the best
Sunday schools. The Sunday school is a missionary
and educational and evangelistic institution; it is re-
pugnant to its very nature to measure it by mere
numbers. It is a school of religion, or better, it is a
school of Christianity, dealing with the deepest
things of God and the soul; it may not be estimated
alone by its bulk.
All of this and much more we may say ; but after
all is said, the fact stands out as clear as day, that we
cannot teach people until we reach them ; we cannot
influence people through the Sunday school in the
things of God and the soul until we bring them into
the Sunday school. It is also as clear as day that the
people who most deeply need our Sunday-school in-
struction are not the people who will, left to them-
selves, attend, but are the people who must be some-
how induced to attend.
It can hardly be said that enlarging numbers, or
the efforts necessary to bring them in, constitute any
barrier to educational, or religious, or evangelistic
What is a Successful Sunday School ? 1 7
accomplishments. It may be seriously questioned
whether better educational and evangelistic fruits
are borne, or more abiding religious results achieved,
in little Sunday schools than in larger Sunday
schools. Poor work and meager results may mark
little as well as big schools.
One would be inclined to think that the same
energy and intelligence which make a Sunday school
large in attendance would tend also to make it effi-
cient and fruitful. Would not the apathy and in-
difference which account for small numbers be re-
flected in all the service rendered by the school?
Generally speaking, little stores are hardly the most
efficient or the best conducted stores; little railroads
have not won special distinction for their efficiency;
little educational institutions cannot in our day
justly claim superiority over those which number their
students into the thousands. If one were in quest
of inspiring ideals and stirring achievements in Sun-
day-school work, he would not seek out little schools,
though in these he might find much to commend.
There is no necessary antagonism between growth in
numbers and efficiency in service. These ought to
go hand in hand, each supplementing and augmenting
the other. Certain it is that the Sunday school
which lacks the aggressive spirit, which is content
with the numbers which it can attain without special
missionary eff'ort, is lacking in certain essential ele-
ments which characterized our Lord and His
apostles.
We have said that the Sunday school is educa-
tional and religious in its aim; it is more than that,
i8 A Successful Sunday School
it is missionary. This school constitutes a wing of
the conquering army which is to bring this world
under the sway of Jesus Christ. This school is not
only to be missionary; it is to be evangelistic. It is
an institution conducted in His name who gathered
unprecedented multitudes to His teaching ministry.
Socrates, Plato and others devoted their teaching
ministry to the select few; Jesus of Nazareth as-
sembled and taught the multitudes.
The one unanswerable argument in favour of the
largest Sunday school possible lies here. So long as
the school is little, it ministers to those who least
need its ministry, to the children of the pastor, the
superintendent, the teachers, the people who in all
probability will in any case not leave their sons and
daughters wholly without religious instruction. As
the numbers in the Sunday school increase, the need
of those reached increases in proportion. Fre-
quently the Sunday school with two hundred mem-
bers which adds one hundred to its membership will
actually double its evangelistic opportunity. A Sun-
day school had five hundred members consisting al-
most wholly of believers and children who came from
Christian homes. This school went afield in an
aggressive campaign and brought in two hundred
new members. A new day dawned for that school ;
it fairly tingled with life; the spirit of evangelism
became rife as it faced its new evangelistic challenge
and opportunity.
It is thus easy to see that involved in the question
which we are considering is the larger question of
our interpretation of the mission and spirit of the
What is a Successful Sunday School *? 1 9
church, of the attitude which the church shall as-
sume toward the outlying masses. The Sunday
school is no longer to be considered as an institution
apart from the church; it is not even to be thought of
merely as a school in which the church may instruct
its children with a view to future membership. The
Sunday school is the church engaged in vital phases
of its work; it is a school, but we are not to forget
that it is a Sunday school. Measured by its deposit
of instruction, the Sunday school can never hold high
rank among educational institutions. It assembles
on God's holy day, it meets in God's house, it studies
God's book, it has the peculiar promise of God's il-
luminating Spirit, it is led and served by devout men
and women who come to its session from their knees.
This school sends its light and warmth down through
all the week-days. It permeates with its sacred in-
fluence all other schools and lends a blessing to all
the days of the week. By every holy consideration
we are bound to extend its appeal and influence as
widely as may be. This school, let us say it again,
is evangelistic and missionary as well as educational.
It is educational in order that it may be in the best
sense missionary.
We live in a day of large Sunday schools. It is
easy to see that this development is only in its be-
ginnings. We have long had a few outstanding
schools which, by their numbers and their efficiency,
commanded wide attention. Sunday schools, large
in numbers and great in spiritual power, are now to
be found in all of the states. As is to be expected,
they may be found in most, of the larger centers ; but
20 A Successful Sunday School
they may also be found in increasing numbers in the
towns and villages and even in the country. We
know schools which, including the Home Depart-
ment and the Cradle Roll, have upwards of five thou-
sand enrolled; it is not uncommon to hear of schools
which have a regular attendance of two thousand or
more. Schools with an actual attendance of one
thousand are now so common that they cease to at-
tract special attention. We are tempted to give a list
of some churches which maintain really large Sun-
day schools; it is hardly advisable. Developments
are so rapid that such a list would not be worth
while in any permanent record. One's heart must
beat fast and he must feel a sense of thrill as he
contemplates the possible developments of the next
ten and twenty years.
A successful Sunday school, then, is a school
which is reaching and really blessing its normal con-
stituency; a school which, aggressive in its extension
efforts, at the same time maintains a high spirit of
reverence and patiently and painstakingly teaches the
Word of Jehovah with a view to the salvation of
the lost and to the best and broadest development of
character and the finest culture of the spiritual life.
In the pages which follow we seek to point the way
to such a Sunday school.
II
WHAT A SUCCESSFUL SUNDAY
SCHOOL WILL DO
IN the preceding chapter, we have seen that the
successful Sunday school is one which has
numbers in real proportion to its possibilities
and which is doing genuine educational and evangel-
istic work; in a word, the successful Sunday school
is the practically efficient Sunday school. Such Sun-
day schools make great churches ; there is nothing in
the whole domain of Christianity which is not
touched and influenced by such a Sunday school.
Efficient Sunday schools grow great churches and
build great church life. A brilliant pulpit figure, like
T. De Witt Talmage, may gather large congrega-
tions and there may be all the appearances of a
great church. But, if there is lacking the founda-
tion work of faithful religious instruction and the
persistent care and training of childhood and youth,
the apparently great church will go the way of the
lamented Brooklyn Church to which Dr. Talmage
so ably ministered. Great Sunday schools make
great churches. There is really no other way to
build great churches, save by worthy teaching and
training processes such as are maintained in the Sun-
day school. This method cannot fail. This educa-
tional method was the means used by the great
21
22 A Successful Sunday School
Teacher in founding His earthly kingdom. It was
used by Paul in the early extension of that kingdom.
It has been used in every aggressive forv^ard move-
ment v^hich has marked the development of that
kingdom.
The above statement is amply illustrated and justi-
fied by the experience of the past hundred years of
foreign mission endeavour. The earlier foreign mis-
sion efforts ran along lines of evangelism and en-
listment. Approach v^as made to adults. Children
v^ere overlooked and educational processes wevQ
slighted. Apparently large progress was made on
many fields. Gradually it became painfully appar-
ent that the results were not stable and that the
progress was more apparent than real. The better
wisdom prevailed, and the missionaries abroad and
their supporters at home turned their attention to
the New Testament method of patient teaching.
Schools of all kinds, including of course Bible
schools, began to be established and an era of real
advance and stable progress was inaugurated.
By as much as the Sunday school makes for ef-
ficiency in the local church, it also makes for effect-
iveness in the denomination. The Methodist
Church has the largest Sunday-school constituency
in America. A leader in that church, now an hon-
oured bishop, has said: " If the Sunday school were
to go out of business, the Methodist Church would be
cut in half in fifteen years. In thirty years the
Methodist Church would for all practical purposes
cease to exist." There can be no surer evidence of
the indispensable service of the Sunday school than
What a Successful School Will Do 23
is to be seen in the aggregate of capital and brains
with which the great Christian denominations are
seeking to promote Sunday-school work.
Efficient churches are buiU by great Sunday
schools. Great and efficient churches are not built
save by efficient teaching and character-building proc-
esses. Outstanding churches come to mind in this
connection, too numerous to mention. The Calvary
Baptist Church, Washington, D. C, the Bushwick
Avenue Methodist Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., the
First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, the First Meth-
odist Church, Memphis, Tenn., — but a complete list
would include practically every really great church
in the whole country. While the churches named
above have enjoyed the ministry of almost incom-
parable pastors, it is not too much to say that they
very largely owe their success and their eminence to
the quiet persistent influence of their efficiently con-
ducted Sunday schools.
Our statement that churches are made great by
efficient Sunday schools will probably be in itself
convincing. It would hardly seem to need argument
or illustration. We indicate briefly some considera-
tions upon which we base the statement.
I. The Sunday school offers a complete and ef-
fective method of church organization. A properly
organized Sunday school, reaching and teaching and
otherwise ministering to its normal possibilities,
means a well-organized church. The eight or nine
departments of the Sunday school, vigorously man-
aged, may touch helpfully and constantly every in-
dividual in the whole constituency of the church.
24 A Successful Sunday School
both members and non-members. No individual,
from the infant in arms to the aged shut-in, no in-
dividual whether able to attend the pulpit ministries
of the church or not, can escape the wide-extended
net of the well-organized Sunday school. The de-
partment superintendents with their several corps of
helpers constitute a unique and always-ready force
for teaching, for ministering, or for enlistment in
practical service. Nothing of moment can escape so
complete an organization. Is it sudden disaster, a
death, an accident, a financial crash ? Is it a favour-
ing fortune, the coming of a babe, glad tidings from
a distant land, narrow escape from calamity? Is it
the pain of lingering illness, the weakness of life's
decline, the loneliness incident to a new environ-
ment ? It matters not ; the efficiently organized Sun-
day school will be in line to minister.
Ever>^ faithful pastor knows that a chief burden
on his heart is his own failure, and the failure of
his church, to function properly in practical minis-
tries. He has perhaps the haunting feeling that
hearts here and there are sore from neglect. He is
occasionally startled and grieved to learn that some
good but perhaps obscure man has passed through
dire trial and is grieved because the pastor and the
church did not come near in his time of need. Some
sister has received news of the tragic death of a son
in a distant state and the pastor and his members
have failed to show sympathy; the woman is, of
course, deeply grieved, but later when the pastor
learns concerning the situation, he is even more
deeply grieved. And thus on and on the pastor feels
What a Successful School Will Do 25
uneasiness and bears distress because his church or-
ganization fails to function properly. Such failure
is practically impossible with a well-organized Sun-
day school. In case of failure, it is easy to locate
the responsibility, and the faithful pastor may spare
himself the blame.
The practical possibilities of the simple workable
organization afforded by the organized Sunday
school are all but limitless. They are becoming
more and more fully appreciated as they find dem-
onstration in many places. Not in all the history of
Christian effort and church development has any
other organization approximated this in complete-
ness and effectiveness of service.
This is not mere theory. The practical value of
the thorough effective organization offered by the
modern Sunday school has been demonstrated in
every part of the land. The well-organized church
is the church which has a complete and aggressive
Sunday-school organization. Pastors bear grateful
testimony to this fact. Future students of church
efficiency and organization will give primary atten-
tion to the Sunday school. The largest Protestant
theological Seminary in America, The Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., has,
in recognition of this, established a chair of " Church
Efficiency and Sunday-School Pedagogy," thus link-
ing the Sunday school directly with the problems of
church efficiency.
2. The Sunday school is the chief agency of the
church for the promotion of Bible study. Apart
from the Sunday school, how much Bible reading
26 A Successful Sunday School
and study would there be among our people ? If the
Sunday school should go out of existence, how much
Bible study would we have ? Many would read their
Bibles; how many would study them? The Sunday
school offers the only practicable effective means of
promoting popular Bible study and of growing Bible
scholars among the people.
The ministry of the pulpit is not intended to im-
part accurate detailed Bible knowledge. This min-
istry rather assumes a measure of Bible knowledge
and bases its appeal and admonition on such assump-
tion. The teacher of the Bible normally comes be-
fore the preacher of the gospel. The preacher as-
sumes the teacher; he takes for granted the instruc-
tion given in the Sunday school. The effectiveness
of the pastor's pulpit ministry must depend upon the
faithfulness of the teacher.
Since the Sunday school constitutes the only gen-
eral and effective method of promoting wide-spread
Bible study, it is not difficult to see that the Sunday
school is the real hope for the present and future
greatness of the church.
3. The Sunday school offers a means of enlisting
a large number of people in useful service. Officers
are needed for the school and for each department,
teachers and substitute teachers are called for, vis-
itors and other helpers are needed, workers with
talent for leadership in socials, plays and entertain-
ments are in demand, while a company of helpers
skilled in preparing lunches, suppers and banquets
is indispensable; the need for workers and the pos-
sibilities of enlistment through the Sunday school are
What a Successful School Will Do 27
all but limitless. Many Sunday schools are now
employing from one hundred to two hundred regu-
lar workers, besides a variable number for special
tasks. This utilizing of talent, this enlistment of
workers must, even apart from the direct service
which they render, contribute largely to the develop-
ment of the churches. Our people grow through
serving, and this institution which offers endless va-
rieties of service must be a chief means of church
growth.
4. By as much as the Sunday school enlists large
numbers in practical Christian service by so much it
offers training in Bible study and equipment for
practical usefulness. Successive generations of
young people are each year coming to the threshold
of the larger life. It has long been a matter of deep
concern in the churches that these youths shall be
trained for the duties and privileges of the Christian
life.
Our young peoples' societies are rendering excel-
lent service in training our young people. The
range of service in which these societies can offer
training is, however, necessarily limited. The train-
ing ordinarily afforded in the Christian Endeavour,
the Young Peoples' Union or the Epworth League
ought to be supplemented by the training which
Sunday-school effort offers In such variety and
abundance. The successful Sunday school calls Im-
peratively and constantly for many types of practical
service, much of which can be best rendered by our
young people and some of which they alone are In
position to offer. Canvassers are needed, records
28 A Successful Sunday School
must be made and kept, multigraph letters must be
written, the indiiferent must be visited, the sick must
be cared for, the poor must be remembered, the err-
ing must be sought, hospitals must be brightened —
but the list goes on and on — indeed is there any
practical form of Christian or humane service which
does not fall within the pale of the Sunday school?
The Sunday school is not in its ultimate purpose
merely a training camp or a drill ground. And yet
in its practical working out, it is both training camp
and drill ground, probably the best ever offered for
our youths.
Along with our young peoples' societies, the Sun-
day school must thus be a chief means of raising up
Christian workers, ministers, missionaries and Chris-
tian leaders. A vigorous Sunday-school program
will call out unsuspected abilities, will enlist and
thus save from possible peril much talent, will dis-
cover and train those whom the Master has ordained
to high tasks of service and leadership. As the
pastor looks over his field, as the superintendent con-
siders and prays for his school, let it not be over-
looked that out of this institution and from its ac-
tivities must come practically all of the pastors,
superintendents, missionaries, and other workers in
all departments of Christian endeavour.
5. A successful Sunday school almost certainly
means large congregations. There are possible excep-
tions. In a general ministry among the churches ex-
tending over many years and covering many states,
the author has yet to find an exception. The churches
everywhere which maintain a large Sunday-school
What a Successful School Will Do 29
attendance are blessed with a gratifying attendance
upon their preaching services. This question which
seems just now timely and interesting, will be dis-
cussed more at length in a later chapter.
We need not extend our discussion except to say
that the successful Sunday school insures that the
preaching ministry of the church will be properly
and scripturally supplemented by a corresponding
teaching ministry. Neither the teaching nor the
preaching of the Word is sufficient in itself. The
teacher must be supplemented by the preacher and
the preacher is ineffective without the teacher. This
is emphasized in the practice and the precepts of our
Lord Jesus and His apostles. It is based in the na-
ture of things. A large and efficient Sunday school
is required to fill out the proper ministry of the
church and to round out the best efficiency of the
preacher.
6. Crowning all that we have said, the Sunday
school is the prime evangelistic agency. When
evangelism declines in the Stmday school, evan-
gelism sets its face toward the open door of depar-
ture from the church. A proper evangelism finds its
roots and has its vital growth in the Sunday school.
The Sunday school offers the easy and natural
means of bringing children and young people to an
acceptance and confession of Christ Jesus as
Saviour. The reason is not far to seek. Each de-
partmental group offers distinct opportunity for
adapted evangelistic teaching. The graded lessons
which are now increasingly popular carry just the
word concerning the message and appeal of the
30 A Successful Sunday School
Christ which is needed at successive life stages. A
Sunday-school assembly with its various officers and
teachers gathered for evangelism must in some
measure resemble that gathering on the day of Pen-
tecost when the plea of the apostles was faithfully
seconded by the one hundred and twenty disciples
who doubtless mingled with the multitudes and bore
personal witness to the lost.
But the Sunday school does more than merely
open the way for the winning of children and young
people. It opens the way for approach to men and
women, especially fathers and mothers. It affords
touch and leads to acquaintance with homes in which
are unsaved parents and others who need Christ.
Through its great organized class movement, the
Sunday school is directly reaching increasing num-
bers of men and women who apparently could not be
influenced through any other medium. Illustrations
could be indefinitely multiplied. Confessedly the
Sunday school is the right arm of the church in any
systematic effort to reach and win the lost.
On and on we might go naming preeminent church
problems which the Sunday school can solve; which
indeed the Sunday school is actually solving. Many
of these the Sunday school alone can solve. There
is not one of these problems which cannot be most
surely and satisfactorily solved by the Sunday school
which is honestly seeking to reach its real constit-
uency. In proportion very largely as the Sunday
school maintains aggressive efforts to bring the peo-
ple under its influence, will it function in the many
high tasks to which it is set in the church.
Ill
ORGANIZING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
FOR SUCCESS
DURING recent years the Sunday school has
been passing through transitional and al-
most revolutionary processes. In 191 1,
Mr. H. Beauchamp's book, " The Graded Sunday
School," came from the press. This was the first
book which undertook to point the way to organiza-
tion along the lines of grading and departmentiza-
tion. Then came along through the years a veritable
stream of books and other literature. Meantime the
Sunday schools of the land have been struggling on,
drying, testing, experimenting, sifting and gradually
finding themselves in the new day, making for them-
selves a body of established policies in organization
and management.
The Sunday schools have thus been passing
through trying times. All efforts to grade and de-
partmentize have been made more difficult by the
fact that our Sunday-school buildings have not lent
themselves to departmentization. With rare patience
and with wonderful persistence the Sunday-school
workers have faced the problems which inevitably
arose out of the new type of organization. The fact
31
32 A Successful Sunday School
that the new ideals have steadily won their way in
an institution which is naturally conservative, and in
spite of all but impossible housing conditions, is suf-
ficient attestation of the fundamental soundness of
the principles on which these ideals are based.
At first the prime emphasis was on grading the
pupils. Gradually the emphasis has shifted to de-
partmentizing the pupils. The outstanding feature
of present-day Sunday-school organization is its de-
partmental divisions. Out of the experiences and
experiments of the past dozen years, departmental
management stands out as tested and finally ac-
cepted. Along with the department store has come
the departmental Sunday school. Grading our pupils
into classes must necessarily be a somewhat variable
process, differing in schools as they may be small or
large. Experience has demonstrated the blessing
and advantage of breaking the school into depart-
ments and conducting worship and instructional
programs according to the needs of departmental
groups.
The departmental lines, as at first devised and for
years accepted, are as follows :
Cradle Roll Class (In the
school) 3 years of age
Beginners 4 and 5 years of age
Primaries 6 to 8 years of age
Juniors 9 to 12 years of age
Intermediates 13 to 16 years of age
Seniors (Young People). 17 to 24 years of age
Adults 24 up
It will be observed that the Cradle Roll is listed
Organizing the Sunday School 33
as one of the departments within the school. Like
the Home Department, the Cradle Roll grew np as
an outside effort. Gradually the conviction has
grown that children three years of age ought to be in
the Sunday school. Experimental efforts in this di-
rection have confirmed earlier theories, and we may
now consider the Cradle Roll Class or Department in
the Sunday school as an established and accepted
fact.
It should be said that in actual experience the
Senior Department has never been limited as above
indicated, but has included young people, the line
between this department and the Adult Department
being largely drawn on the basis of congeniality.
The Sunday-School Council of Evangelical De-
nominations and the International Sunday-School
Association have approved the following schedule:
Cradle Roll Class (In the
school) 3 years of age
Beginners 4 and 5 years of age
Primaries 6 to 8 years of age
Juniors 9 to 11 years of age
Intermediates 12 to 14 years of age
Seniors 15 to 17 years of age
Young People 18 to 24 years of age
Adults 24 years and up
The last-named plan, which provides for seven de-
partments instead of six, results from an effort to
secure a closer and more congenial grouping and one
which conforms more closely to the groupings found
in the public schools. Naturally some divergences
will arise in the forms of Sunday-school organiza-
34 A Successful Sunday School
tion. It is difficult, perhaps impracticable, to main-
tain the same departmental subdivisions for small
schools of fifty to one hundred and large schools
which number many hundreds. As schools grow
very large the number of departments may be in-
creased or the departments themselves may be sub-
divided, as is suggested on page 40.
The plan of organization set forth above which
provides seven departments is devised with special
reference to large schools, those having an attend-
ance of 500 and up. The older form of organization
offering six departments has still some advantages in
general and especially for schools numbering 500 and
less:
(i) This plan has long been advocated and has
rooted itself in the thinking and the language of
Sunday-school people.
(2) It provides larger and more desirable de-
partmental groups. In schools numbering less than
500, difficulty is experienced in securing such num-
bers in the departments from the Junior Department
up as will justify separate assembly rooms, separate
organization and separate management. A chief
hindrance to departmental subdivision has been the
smallness of the numbers in each group and the con-
sequent temptation to combine departmental groups.
(3) The plan provides for four years in the
Junior and Intermediate Departments, which some
think is a distinct advantage over the odd number
three, offered in the plan providing for seven depart-
ments. With four years allotted to a department, it is
easy to preserve the separation of the sexes in classes
Organizing the Sunday School 35
which is much to be desired in the teen ages. When
necessary two ages can be placed in one class, mak-
ing two classes of boys in a department ; likewise girls
of two ages can be put together in a class, and thus
four classes are provided in a department with sepa-
ration of the sexes. This is manifestly impracticable
when three years are allotted to a department. In
such cases it would probably be necessary to discard
sex separation and place all pupils of a given age in
one class.
(4) Architectural and other practical considera-
tions must, of course, weigh in favour of the simpler
form of organization, in so far as such simpler
method may seem to serve the ends sought in the
Sunday school.
We have observed already that a serious barrier
to departmentization of the Sunday school lies in the
fact that our buildings for the most part do not pro-
vide department rooms and thus make practically
impossible the handling of the school In separate
departmental units. A further difficulty lies in the
fact that our general superintendents are not yet as
a rule departmentized in their thinking and feeling,
and they are on this account sometimes slow to rec-
ognize and utilize the department superintendents in
a way to make successful departmental work. A yet
further difficulty grows out of the fact that we have
had little occasion or opportunity to train and equip
special departmental leaders. Gradually these diffi-
culties will be adjusted and we may reasonably hope
that the coming years will see the departmental Sun-
day school fully established throughout the whole
36 A Successful Sunday School
world and yielding the results in enlarged and im-
proved educational work which we have anticipated.
Organising the Departments.
A first step toward the proper organization of the
Sunday school is the setting out and clearly defining
of the departments. When the departments are or-
ganized, as we have outlined, with superintendents
or directors and a full corps of officers, then comes
the problem which these officers must face, of a thor-
ough organization within the department itself. No
final rules for guidance can be here laid down. In
general, we must classify our pupils on the age basis.
Occasionally this basis of classification may require
to be disregarded, and congeniality, development,
standing in day-school may seem to deserve consid-
eration. When we pass the time of early adoles-
cence, the age basis must more and more fade away
until it is largely discarded in dealing with adults.
In all of the departments up to and through the
Intermediate, there is clearly gain in classifying on
the age basis. This gives a ready and impartial
basis for classifying incoming pupils; it provides a
basis for annual promotion; it makes possible the
orderly use of graded literature.
In all of these earlier departments the classes
should be small in number so that teachers may give
personal care and attention, both on Sundays and in
week-days, to the pupils. No rule can be safely laid
down, but six or eight pupils may well constitute a
full task for the average teacher in any part of the
school up to and through the Intermediate Depart-
Organizing the Sunday School 37
ment. In the advanced departments the number in
the classes will be larger since these classes are sup-
posed to be organized in a way to utilize the energies
and develop the resources of the various members.
Department lines should be kept clear. Since the
age basis has been adopted, age lines should be in-
sisted upon. It is quite common because of a sup-
posed shortage in leaders to combine certain depart-
ments under a single management. Thus the Cradle
Roll Class is often merged with the Beginners. Se-
niors or Young People are sometimes merged with
Adults. There is, of course, distinct loss in such
merging of departments. The temptation is doubt-
less strong, but it must be resisted if the school as-
pires to reach its constituency in the most vigorous
and effective way.
The relation between the department heads and
the general superintendent cannot admit of clear
definition. This relationship will vary widely in dif-
ferent schools, and it may not be the same with all
of the department heads in a given school. Clearly
these department superintendents cannot expect to
exercise the independent leadership and direction of
their departments. In the selection of teachers, in the
inauguration of policies, in the expenditure of funds,
in all that directly or indirectly concerns the welfare
of the school as a whole, there must be interrelation,
conference and mutual confidence. These and many
similar problems which arise in the management of a
large school must be patiently worked out. Workers
who are deeply in earnest and working toward a
common goal learn readily and rapidly to relate
38 A Successful Sunday School
themselves to each other in a happy and harmonious
relationship.
What we have thus far said relates especially to
department lines. Grading lines are to be no less
earnestly insisted upon. In very large schools there
must be, of course, a number of classes for each year
of age.
Unless there are special local conditions v^^hich
cause deviation from the normal, the enrollment in
the departments will be about in proportion to the
number of years allotted to each department which
in a school of 100 would mean an organization on the
lines mentioned on page 32 somewhat as follows:
Age
Cradle Roll Class 3
Beginners 4-5
Primaries 6-8
Juniors 9-12
Intermediates 13-16
Seniors (Young People) 17-24
Adults 25 up
4%
4
pupils
8%
8
<(
12%
12
((
16%
16
((
16%
16
it
20% (
?)
20
<<
24% (
?)
24
((
100% 100
A school of 600 would in like manner be organized
somewhat as follows:
Age
Cradle Roll Class 3
Beginners 4-5
Primaries 6-8
Juniors 9-12
Intermediates 13-16
Seniors (Young People) 17-24
Adults 25 up
4%
24 pupils
8%
48
1%%
72
16%
96
16%
96
20%(?)
120
24%(?)
144
100% 600
Organizing the Sunday School 39
Likewise a school of 1,200 would be organized
somewhat after this fashion :
Age
Cradle Roll Class 3
Beginners 4-5
Primaries 6-8
Juniors 9-13
Intermediates 13-16
Seniors (Young People) 17-24 20%(?) 240
Adults 25 up 24% ( ?) 288
4%
48 pupils
8%
96 "
12%
144 "
16%
192 "
16%
193 "
100% 1200 "
Using the form of organization set forth on
page 33, the figures for a school of lOO would be
about as follows:
Age
Cradle Roll Class 3 4% 4 pupils
Beginners 4-5 8% 8 "
Primaries 6-8 12% 12 "
Juniors 9-11 12% 12 "
Intermediates 12-14 12% 12 "
Seniors 15-17 13% 12 "
Young People 18-^4 18% 18 "
Adults ^ up 22% 22 "
100% 100 "
For a Simday school of 6oo members the organi-
zation would be as follows :
Age
Cradle Roll Class 3 4% 24 pupils
Beginners 4-5 8% 48 "
Primaries 6-8 12% 72 "
Juniors 9-11 12% 72 "
Intermediates 12-14 12% 72 "
Seniors 15-17 12% 72 "
Young People 18-24 18% 108 "
Adults 25 up 22% 132 "
100% 600 "
4%
48 pupils
8%
96 "
12%
144 "
12%
144 "
12%c
144 "
12%
144 "
18%;
216 "
22%
264 "
40 A Successful Sunday School
A Sunday school of 1,200 members would be or-
ganized as follows :
Age
Cradle Roll Class 3
Beginners 4-5
Primaries 6-8
Juniors 9-11
Intermediates 12-14
Seniors 15-17
Young People 18-24
Adults 25 up
100% 1200 "
A study of local conditions, and especially of cen-
sus returns, will reveal whether the departmental at-
tendance of a given school is according to a normal
standard. If it is not so, and any of the departments
in the school fall materially below the allotted quota,
such departments should be led to make increased
efforts to reach their possibilities.
In very large schools, the question is arising as to
subdividing the departments. This plan will doubt-
less rapidly grow in favour. Thus a school of 1,600
members might be organized somewhat as follows:
Cradle Roll Class No. 1
Cradle Roll Class No. 2
Beginners Department No. 1
Beginners Department .... No. 3
Primary Department No. 1
Primary Department No. 2
Junior Department No. 1
Junior Department No. 2
Intermediate Department... No. 1
Intermediate Department... No. 2
Young People's Department
Adults
100% 1600 "
There would probably be no occasion for dividing
the Young People and Adults.
2%
32 pupils
2%
32 '
4%
64 *
4%
64 '
6%
96 *
6%
96 '
8%
128 '
8%>
128 '
8%,
128 *
8%
128 '
20%
320 *
24%
384 *
IV
SECURING OFFICERS AND TEACHERS
SUCH a Sunday-school organization as we have
outlined calls for a large force of officers and
teachers. A chief barrier to the enlargement
and efficiency of Sunday schools is the limited num-
ber of workers which we seem able to command as
officers and teachers. Almost any superintendent
will declare that he could greatly enlarge his attend-
ance and extend the usefulness of his school if only
he could command the needed officers and teachers.
Let a round table be conducted for Sunday-school
superintendents and the way opened for questions
from perplexed workers — a question nearly always
raised is as to how to secure officers and teachers.
Answers almost as numerous and various as the an-
swerers have been given. Like almost all of the prob-
lems arising in Sunday-school work, this one of call-
ing out and enlisting leaders depends for the most
part on tactful, consecrated, persistent energy and
that unfailing quality which strangely enough we call
common sense. Some more or less obvious observa-
tions must suffice.
Many of our best workers for various reasons are
not enlisted in Sunday-school effort. Conditions no
longer existing may have drawn them away from
41
42 A Successful Sunday School
active service ; being timid, the statement of exacting
demands may have deterred them ; they may have
been overlooked or underestimated by previous
leaders in earlier movements; the methods pursued
or the spirit manifested in the past may not have
appealed to them; the scale on which the work has
been conducted may not hitherto have aroused their
interest. In every church there is a tendency on the
part of certain earnest and willing people to drift
into places of responsibility, while equally competent
people who are diffident may be gradually overlooked
in the assignment of tasks. This fact is of vast mo-
ment to the superintendent and pastor in quest of
new helpers. The inauguration of new and aggres-
sive policies may furnish the desired occasion for the
enlistment of the workers in question.
Furthermore, it must be evident that a vigorous
and efficient administration will do much toward
making timid and untried teachers efficient. Every
Sunday-school leader knows that a willing mind and
a self-sacrificing spirit, ready always to follow, count
for more than native or acquired gifts. Mr. Arthur
Flake, an authority on Sunday-school administra-
tion, declares that conscious ability and past achieve-
ments are no guarantee of usefulness on the part of
Sunday-school workers. He suggests on the other
hand that the timid and the hitherto untried often
give the most ready response and make the most un-
hesitating sacrifices and thus constitute the most
valuable and effective teachers. A vigorous and
sympathetic administration will often lift lagging and
inefficient workers out of their lethargy and make
Securing Officers and Teachers 43
them stand on tiptoe, eager to do their utmost. A
high spirit of effort and devotion is infectious.
When proposed workers are being considered, the
real superintendent sees not what they are but what
they may be; he looks not at their present state but
at the high state to which he can lead and develop
them.
It is also to be remembered that boys and girls
grow rapidly ; so rapidly that we may easily overlook
their advancement. Youths well back in their teens
often make efficient secretaries and even successful
teachers. They are naturally tempted to excuse
themselves by the claim that they need to be taught;
this excuse is hardly valid in that youths of high-
school age long for active service and that they learn
best by doing. High-school girls under competent
leadership make helpful teachers in the earlier
grades which comprise little children. A teacher of
a half dozen difficult boys secured as his associate
and helper a high-school boy who had only recently
been converted. This older boy was always present
in the class to render any possible service, and on
week-days led the boys in their sports and athletic
activities. He organized them into a club and in
tactful ways drew other boys into the class. When
the number in the class reached twelve, the class was
divided and another high-school boy was called to its
leadership. This youth was, of course, the best
" substitute " teacher, and under his responsibilities
he rapidly grew until he was called to take full
charge of the boys' work in a neighbouring Sunday
school. The process may be a trifle slow, but it is
44 A Successful Sunday School
sure, this process of growing our workers rather*
than expecting them to step fully equipped into the
service.
Many methods will suggest themselves for secur-
ing needed teachers. A study of the church rolls
may yield helpful suggestions; requests for sugges-
tions from interested workers may at any time lead
to rich finds; calls for volunteers may be worth
while; training schools and institutes are always in-
spiring; special vocational schools are being offered
for Sunday-school workers ; our Summer Assemblies
always offer helpful courses; Sunday-school conven-
tions which bring together groups of interested peo-
ple have long been found suggestive and quickening.
The general officers will, of course, bear in mind
that they have interested helpers in the securing of
new workers In the departmental superintendents.
The head of each department is to be held responsi-
ble for his department, and hence he will be keenly
interested to discover and enlist the best available
material. The spirit of team-work is the real key to
Sunday-school success. The general superintendent
who assumes responsibility for the finding of teach-
ers throughout the Sunday school does himself an
injustice and Inflicts wrong upon his fellow-workers
who direct the various departments. On the other
hand, if the department superintendents assume to
select the needed teachers apart from the main su-
perintendent, confusion and Inefficiency must result.
If you would have teachers sufficient In number
and skilled for the work, there is, after all, but one
sure way to get them; train them. The training
Securing Officers and Teachers 45
processes which have been so vigorously pressed for
a dozen years are just now beginning to bear fruit.
The training of workers is a prime factor in creating
the present tides which are sweeping in Sunday-
school work. The training given to workers is in-
spiring them with the vision and courage which make
possible the big Sunday schools of our day. Train-
ing processes are never easy. Painful, difficult, pro-
longed they may be, but they constitute the only sure
means of reaching our most coveted goals. The
courses now offered by many agencies for the train-
ing of Sunday-school workers are the outgrowth of
efforts and experience continuing through many
years. They are skillfully adapted to meet the needs
of the workers and they offer studies which are com-
pelling in their interest and charm. They may be
pursued individually or in class. They lend them-
selves to the highly educated and to those who have
not enjoyed educational advantages.
Leaders who may be distressed because of the lack
of equipped teachers may well be heartened by the
many means now being effectively used to procure a
generation of trained workers. Our young peoples'
societies were never so active and efficient ; our Sun-
day schools, themselves, with their improved graded
lessons and their educational methods, must bear
fruit; our colleges and seminaries are laying in-
creased emphasis on the training of leaders and
teachers. One of the denominations reports 35,756
teacher training awards bestowed during the past
year in the church schools. Surely the future is
bright with hope.
V
HOUSING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
IF one were asked to name the outstanding bar-
rier to the growth of our Sunday schools, prob-
ably the almost universal answer would be, the
narrow limitations of our present buildings. We
have in all directions schools which are hampered in
their future growth by the inadequate quarters in
which they must do their work. Our really large
schools, almost without exception, are overflowing
their buildings and are using adjoining buildings,
tabernacles, tents, down-town theaters, or business
houses.
We cannot have large and efficient Sunday schools
without ample housing space. Our ideas as regards
the space necessary for the large Sunday school are
rapidly undergoing change. Through painful expe-
riences we are learning our lesson. The Sunday
school in which the author is permitted to labour
sought enlargement of numbers for a period of
years. Untiring and well-directed efforts proved
unavailing. Beyond a certain number it seemed im-
possible to go. Even that number could be main-
tained onl}^ with much difficulty. At last an adjoin-
ing residence was secured in which provision was
made for the Elementarv Departments and a down-
46
Housing the Sunday School 47
town theater was put at the disposal of a great men's
class. In these ways fairly adequate space was pro-
vided for each department in the Sunday school.
Within four months the attendance doubled. Qearly
the building had set limits to enlargement which no
vigour of effort could overcome. This experience
is typical and the story might be duplicated in almost
any section. In every part of the countiy schools
are hampered and halted in their growth by insuffi-
cient space. Let the superintendent who has sought
in vain to enlarge his attendance make a detailed sur-
vey of his equipment with a view to determine
whether and how far he and his associates are being
defeated by limitations in the building.
There is, of course, another question here — the
question as to whether we have the moral right to
seek enlargement of the Sunday school when such
enlargement means unseemly crowding and neces-
sarily results in inefficient work. However this may
be, it yet remains that a really big Sunday school
cannot be built up in small cramped quarters. A
company of young men debated far into the night as
to whether it is wrong to cheat a lawyer. On to-
ward day, a wise man closed the controversy by say-
ing : " It doesn't matter whether it is right or wrong,
you can't do it anyhow."
The Sunday schools of the country face an anom-
alous situation. Within a dozen years Sunday-
school organization has been revolutionized; the
Sunday school has attained an entirely new place in
the thinking of the people ; new methods and policies
have been inaugtirated for the upbuilding of the
48 A Successful Sunday School
Sunday school. During this time our people have
been largely estopped from the erection of new build-
ings. Sunday schools everywhere are pressing
against the walls of the buildings which they occupy.
We may, therefore, expect unprecedented develop-
ments in the way of remodehng and new buildings in
the coming years. For guidance in the planning of
the large buildings which must be erected, we have
little in the way of experience and precedent to help
us. Here and there great buildings have been erected
as in Fort Worth and Wichita Falls, Texas, and
Lakeland, Florida, where we find departmental build-
ings which are capable of housing very large num-
bers. We hear of buildings projected in New York
City, Dallas, Texas, and Richmond, Va., which are to
cost around a million of dollars, and beyond doubt
such buildings capable of housing thousands of Sun-
day-school pupils will be erected in many sections.
In the light of such experience and precedent as
are available, we undertake to state some policies as
regards the housing of large Sunday schools which
will probably meet with general acceptance.
I. Fourteen square feet for each pupil should be
allowed from the Cradle Roll Qass to the Adult
Department. If a given department is expected to
have 100 pupils, 1,400 square feet of floor space
should be provided for that department. A total of
fourteen square feet per pupil should be allowed
throughout the school, regardless of whether a de-
partment room alone Is provided, or a department
room and class rooms. A suitable provision for a
Junior Department of 100 members, for instance.
Housing the Sunday School 49
would be a department room With 700 square feet of
floor space and with class rooms comprising a total
of 700 square feet of space.
We must insist upon this full allowance of four-
teen square feet for each pupil throughout the entire
school. This demand has been carefully tested and
has met with wide approval on the part of experi-
enced workers. The allowance will seem unduly
large to workers who have known only cramped and
insufficient quarters. Disappointment and measur-
able inefficiency must result if we lower this stand-
ard, and provide less space than fourteen square feet
per pupil.
It is frequently found desirable as a measure of
economy to ask the Adult Department to use the
main auditorium for its assembly. If in this way we
save ourselves the necessity to provide an Adult As-
sembly room, we will need to allow only seven square
feet for each adult pupil in order to secure the
needed class-room space.
The organization and requirements of a Sunday
school of 200 in accordance with tables on page 32,
would be about as follows :
Pupils Square feet
Cradle Roll Class 3 112
Beginners 16 224
Primaries 24 336
Juniors 32 448
Intermediates 32 448
Seniors (Young People) 40 560
Adults 48 672
200 2,800
Following the method of organization presented
^O A Successful Sunday School
on page 33, we would require for a school of 20O
provisions somewhat as follows:
Pupils Square feet
Cradle Roll Class 8 112
Beginners 16 224
Primaries 24 336
Juniors 24 336
Intermediates 24 336
Seniors 24 336
Young People 36 504
Aduhs 44 616
Square
Dept.
Class
Feet
Room
Rooms
336
672
6
1008
9
1344
12
1344
12
1680
6(?)
2016
6(?)
200 2,800
The organization and requirements of a Sunday
school of 600 would be somewhat as follows :
Pupils
Cradle Roll Class.... 24
Beginners 48
Primaries 72
Juniors 96
Intermediates 96
Seniors —
(Young People) ... 120
Adults 144
600 8400 7 51(?)
Using the method of organization presented on
page 33, we would have for a school of 600 as fol-
lows:
Ptipils
Cradle Roll Class 24
Beginners 48
Primaries 72
Juniors 72
Intermediates 72
Seniors 72
Young People 108
Adults 132
600 8400 8 54
\.u-
Square
Dept.
Class
Feet
Room
Rooms
336
672
6
1008
9
1008
9
1008
9
1008
9
1512
6(?)
1848
6(?)
Housing the Sunday School 51
With these tables as a basis, it would be a simple
matter to make similar outlines for smaller schools,
or for schools of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 or larger
numbers.
2. Department rooms should be provided for
each of the departments. If departmental rooms
and class rooms are provided, seven square feet per
person should be allowed for the department rooms
and seven square feet should be allowed for each
person for class-room space. If class rooms are not
provided, fourteen square feet per pupil should be
allowed in the department rooms.
The relative numbers to be provided for in each
department may be estimated on the basis of the
number of years allotted to each department. What
these numbers will be under normal conditions is in-
dicated by the tables given above. The architect, in
making plans for the Sunday-school building, should
be held to these relative proportions unless there are
exceptional conditions which justify a different
schedule. In a college town the presence of a great
number of students may require enlarged and alto-
gether exceptional space for the Senior or Young
People's Department.
3. Department rooms must be practically sound-
proof so as to admit of various forms of worship,
such as singing, without disturbing other groups.
Once attention is directed to this matter Its signifi-
cance must be apparent. Building committees and
architects nevertheless frequently yield to the temp-
tation to place folding doors or rolling partitions be-
tween the departments. Such partitions can never
52 A Successful Sunday School
be satisfactory. Double plastered walls especially
treated to make them as nearly sound-proof as pos-
sible should always be used for this purpose.
4. Class rooms are desirable in every department
of the Sunday school. There is no class which will
not do better and be better taught in its own closed-in
class room. Class rooms are imperatively needed in
the advanced departments. No rule can be laid down
to govern the size or the number of class rooms. For
departments up through the Intermediate, rooms 6x8
feet are usually considered sufficiently large. The
mistake is frequently made of allowing unnecessary
space for class rooms in these departments, as the
mistake is also frequently made of allotting to these
classes too many pupils.
5. All general assemblies of the Sunday school
should be held in the main church auditorium. This
is necessary for the sake of a proper economy; few,
if any, churches feel themselves financially able to
provide two great spacious auditoriums — one for
worship and the other for the Sunday school. Apart
from the question of economy, this is desirable.
Such general assemblies of the Sunday school as
seem advisable ought to be held in the church audi-
torium. The Sunday school needs the dignity and
solemnity of this worshipful room. The younger
people need at least this much familiarity with the
main auditorium, since many of them, alas, may not
otherwise secure such desired touch with it.
Prof. H. F. Evans was a pioneer in the advocacy
of the use of the main auditorium for Sunday-school
assemblies. As early as 1914 he wrote in "The
Housing the Sunday School 53
Sunday- School Building and Its Equipment " as
follows :
" The whole school will meet in general assembly
only occasionally, not over seven or eight times a
year. A large auditorium should not be built to be
used on so few occasions. Where shall these ses-
sions be held ? The obvious answer is, In the church
auditorium. Some may object at once. The church
proper should not be used for children's exercises
lest reverence be destroyed. One of the important
duties of the church school is to develop a sense of
reverence in the growing child. Surely no place
could be found more calculated to arouse reverence
than the church auditorium."
6. Since the general assemblies of the Sunday
school must be held in the main auditorium, the de-
partment rooms should be located and arranged with
a view to a quick and easy coming together of the
departments in the main auditorium. Though of
vital importance affecting the usefulness of a build-
ing and the pleasure which it will afford, this point
may be easily overlooked by the committee or the
architect who has not had attention especially di-
rected to it.
As an illustration of what is here meant, the audi-
torium of the building with which the author is asso-
ciated has on the side of the Sunday-school building
only one vestibule entrance. Through this one en-
trance every Sunday morning the Juniors, Interme-
diates and Seniors must pass in order to attend a
brief closing exercise. In order to avoid delay and
confusion, the three departments must carefully time
their closing and must be always exactly on a given
54 A Successful Sunday School
moment. The slightest delay of any one of the de-
partments which may be occasioned by the most
trifling incident will bring two long columns to the
entrance at the same time. The result may well be
imagined.
And just here we may well raise the question of a
separate building. In order to house our large mod-
ern Sunday schools is it going to become necessary
or advisable to have two buildings, one primarily to
house the preaching service and the other to accom-
modate the teaching service? Mr. R. H. Hunt, of
Chattanooga, Tennessee, who, as an architect, is
making a specialty of designing very large buildings,
is inclined strongly to believe that a practical solu-
tion of our housing problem lies along the line pro-
posed, viz., the erection of two separate buildings,
properly related to each other.
On the other hand. Dr. W. J. McGlothlin, eminent
as a church historian, throws out this rather serious
warning: ^
" It is important that all the activities of the
church should be carried on under the same roof in
the same building. A separate building for any part
of the church work tends to break up the unity of
the whole and secularize that portion which is sepa-
rated from the place of worship. There Is not want-
ing a disposition on the part of adult Sunday-school
classes, young people's societies and some other or-
ganizations to become detached from the church.
This tendency explains In part, no doubt, the de-
creasing attendance In American churches In recent
years. It Is undoubtedly strengthened by breaking
'"A Vital Ministry," Fleming H. Revell Company.
Housing the Sunday School 55
up the various activities of the church, and carrying
them into different rooms or even separate buildings ;
for it is much easier to shp away from such a room
than from the church auditorium. By all means
have everything under the same roof."
The considerations which favour a separate build-
ing are, the securing of better light and better venti-
lation, and the opportunity offered in a separate
building of providing better educational facilities.
These considerations are largely architectural in
their nature and if they prevail and separate build-
ings are erected, the fundamental principles which
Dr. McGlothlin urges must be kept in mind.
Our concern here is not with the question of one
building or two ; that question must be variously de-
termined according to conditions. We are only con-
cerned with the previous questions raised above as to
easy and immediate access to the auditorium from
the various department rooms. We have in mind
especially the departments from the Juniors up, since
the lower departments will not so frequently be
called to assemble in the auditorium. Our insistence
is that v/hether one building or more than one is
erected, care shall be exercised to see that the vari-
ous departments may in ready and orderly fashion
assemble in the main auditorium.
7. We have outlined above the direct immediate
needs of the Sunday school in the way of depart-
ment and class rooms. There are, of course, many
other rooms whose claims must be considered.
Among these we may name without discussion the
following :
56 A Successful Sunday School
1. A Geography Room.
2. A Mission Room.
3. Library Rooms.
4. A Reading Room.
5. Cloak Rooms.
6. A Teacher-Training Room.
7. Recreational Rooms.
8. Storage Rooms.
9. A Superintendent's Room.
10. A Secretary's Room (or rooms).
11. At least two rooms for stenographers or
other assistants.
12. A Mothers' Room.
13. A Cradle Roll Room.
14. A Janitor's Room.
15. A Janitor's Work Room.
Administrative offices are especially needful in
providing for large Sunday schools. We know of
one school which employs more than a dozen paid
workers. Paid workers for the Sunday school will
come more and more into vogue, and it is a far-
sighted policy which makes in new buildings ample
provision for the needed office space.
VI
PROBLEMS IN HOUSING THE SUNDAY
SCHOOL
THE greatest peril which arises in the effort
to house the modern Sunday school lies in
the possible failure to recognize that perils
lurk along the path at every turn. The housing of
the Sunday school has entered upon a new and dis-
tinct development ; there is little in the past to guide
us. In fact, the traditions of the past constitute a
distinct menace. Efforts thus far made to house the
departmental Sunday school, admirable and self-sac-
rificing as they have been, have not met with un-
qualified success. In general these efforts have left
much to be desired. We discuss in this chapter some
of the problems which we face when we undertake
to build adequately for the Sunday school.
There is, first of all, danger that we shall plan on
an inadequate scale. The demands made by the
Sunday school are so extended that even informed
workers find it difficult to convince a congregation
and to lead them to plan on the large scale which is
required. The keenest and most frequent disap-
pointment is felt over the utter inadequacy of build-
ings which were supposedly very large. We rarely,
if ever, hear of a building which is "too large for
the Sunday school." More than once the author has
been called to examine spacious buildings recently
57
58 A Successful Sunday School
completed, only to be told that the building had al-
ready proven utterly inadequate to meet the demands
made upon it.
It is always well to remember that the united and
prolonged effort required to erect a new building in-
fuses new life into a congregation and that the at-
tractiveness of a newly completed structure is calcu-
lated to stimulate larger attendance. This is, of
course, especially true of a building of unusual pro-
portions which, during its erection, has been widely
heralded as an up-to-date educational house. When
we plan a new building, we set pretty definite limits
to the possible Sunday-school attendance. These
limits will probably stand for many decades without
revision. It is a short-sighted policy to build simply
with an eye to present conditions and needs. There
is serious danger that new buildings will be planned
on a scale utterly inadequate to meet future growing
needs. These inadequate buildings will doubtless
prove a serious handicap to the expansion of the
Sunday school in the coming years.
When it is necessary to speak in general terms, it
is difficult to say in this matter just what one would
like to say. We will naturally think of the new
building in comparison with the present building, or
in comparison with other new church buildings re-
cently erected or now projected. Occasionally a
church will dare to disregard all precedents and will
step out and undertake a building on lines which will
provide amply, department by department, for a
really great Sunday school. Such churches will be
worthy pioneers; they will set a proper pace for
Problems in Housing the Sunday School 59
churches in wide circles ; they will be benefactors of
the race.
Later on in these pages we outline a definite
method of determining with some system rather than
by mere guess what floor space will require to be
provided to meet given needs. The mistakes which
the churches make in building too small, generally
grow out of the vagueness with which they estimate
the needs of the Sunday school. They depend upon
guesswork and vague estimates rather than definite
scientific methods of determining needs.
There is, of course, the danger that the churches
will permit financial considerations to be the primary
factor in determining plans for the new building.
How often do we find the church leaders casting
about first of all to see " how much we can raise for
a building." This is a wrong approach to a great
problem. A bank wishing to erect a new building
would first of all consider its needs and weigh the
question as to what type of building is desirable and
what floor-space is necessary. When these questions
are determined, the officers and directors will face
the financial question with a view to determine
whether or how far the bank is in position to meet
the evident needs. A community wishing to erect a
schoolhouse will first face the question of the needs
to be met, the children of various grades to be pro-
vided for, the type of building which will befit the
situation. When these questions have had due and
primary consideration, then comes the question as to
whether or how far the community can provide
funds for the needed building.
6o A Successful Sunday School
Churches probably constitute the only exception to
the wise custom which all but universally prevails
with institutions and individuals alike, of facing first
the question of need and later the question of re-
sources to meet the need.
In pointing out this mistake which pitches the
movement on small lines and belittles the whole
building project, and in suggesting that this mistake
is all too frequent, we do not forget the great num-
bers of right-thinking churches which, putting first
things first, start with a consideration of present and
prospective needs, and have tentative plans drawn
which will meet these needs. They then face the
question as to how far they can hope to provide the
needed funds. Thus the people are permitted to de-
vise their gifts, not in the dark without any definite
objective, but in clear light understanding the rea-
sonable needs and knowing the compromises which
must result if they fail to provide the desired sum.
Blessings upon these wide-visioned, far-seeing
churches; they will reap the fruits of their wisdom
not alone, but will bring down blessings upon wide
circles of churches.
The churches face difficulty and not a little peril
in the fact that within very recent years the Sunday
school in its organization and its consequent building
requirements has made a sharp turn. We may almost
say, " Old things have passed away ; behold all things
are become new." It is well to remind ourselves that
the first book ever written on the graded Sunday
school appeared in 191 1, and the present methods of
organization so familiar to active Sunday-school
Problems in Housing the Sunday School 6 1
workers is of very recent origin. The stronger
financial factors, the men who must largely bear the
burden of the new building, may not have had occa-
sion to familiarize themselves with modern Sunday-
school methods and requirements. These men may
with the best of intentions and without the slightest
thought of harm jeopardize the best interests of the
Sunday school in the building program. A case in
point comes to mind. A church which chanced to be
without a pastor was minded to build. The men of
the church with an undefined and certainly uncon-
fessed feeling that preachers are sometimes assertive
in building projects, determined to arrange the plans
for the new building before a new pastor came on
the field. They secured the services of a well-known
commercial architect who did not know that Sunday-
school methods and ideals had materially changed
since his boyhood days. The men worked with the
architect and a church plan gradually took form. A
Sunday-school leader, honoured and trusted, hap-
pened in. The committee asked him to look over
their building plan. The auditorium was beautiful
and well-proportioned. They came to the Sunday-
school provisions. The Sunday-school man listened
quietly as the architect turned the various sheets.
He was about to leave the room without comment.
Urged by the men to tell them what he thought about
the plans, he said, " Gentlemen, you cannot erect this
building. It would be an affront to the Sunday-
school world. Childhood, hungry with moral and
spiritual needs, would cry out against you. Your
plans violate at practically every vital point the find-
62 A Successful Sunday School
ings of modern educational and psychological re-
search." Be it said to the everlasting credit of that
company of men, they discarded the plans, secured a
pastor, called for the services of a Sunday-school
specialist, and began an entirely new effort to plan a
worthy educational building.
Since the days when men now in middle age were
in college and seminary, educators, psychologists and
practical workers have turned floods of light on re-
ligious education as conducted in the Sunday school
so that within recent years Sunday-school organiza-
tion has been completely revolutionized. The Sun-
day school of to-day bears scant resemblance to the
simple ungraded institution of a generation ago.
Since the days when most of the preachers and pas-
tors of our day were in training for the ministry,
courses in religious education and instruction in
Sunday-school pedagogy have been widely intro-
duced into our educational institutions. Thus the
older ministers missed the training which is now ac-
corded to practically all ministerial students. The
transition processes through which we are passing
will necessarily leave their trace in many church
buildings.
The reader has doubtless already discerned that a
problem which our churches must face in securing
adapted buildings lies in the fact that the architects
who must guide us in planning these buildings, save
In exceptional instances, have not enjoyed wide
experience in meeting the needs of the modern de-
partmental Sunday school. It is, of course, possible
that any given architect may not have had such prac-
Problems in Housing the Sunday School 63
tical touch with modern Sunday-school work as
>vouId enable him to grasp the primary requirements
of a Sunday-school building. It is not usually the
way of successful professional men to confess igno-
rance where information is expected and is taken for
granted. It would be amusing, if it were not painful
and actually lamentable, to see the performances of
an architect who without knowledge of modern Sun-
day-school work and without experience in building
with a view to meet Sunday-school needs, undertakes
to draw plans for a modern Sunday-school building.
Millions of money, we would be safe in saying one
hundred millions of dollars a year, will, in normal
conditions, be expended for church and Sunday-
school buildings. These millions must pass through
the hands of our architects, by them to be moulded
into frame and brick and stone for the housing of
our church and Sunday-school interests.
While we are calling young men to dedicate their
lives to the ministry and missionary work, why may
we not suggest to devout youths the putting of their
lives on this altar? What need is more vital or more
urgent than the need for devout competent architects
to take our millions and give us in return useful,
adapted and beautiful buildings? Imperative as is
this need in the home lands, it is even more keenly
felt on foreign fields. Our Foreign Mission Boards
are quietly looking about for men whom they can
send to the foreign fields to guide in the extensive
building developments which are inevitable.
When we list the architect as among the serious
problems faced by our churches in the building pro-
64 A Successful Sunday School
gram, we write no hard or unkind word either against
a noble profession or against the company of men
who are practicing this profession. Our present situa-
tion has arisen through no fault either of the profes-
sion or the men who follow it. We take no account
here of the architect who, lacking in reverence and
caution, fails to grasp the seriousness of this situa-
tion and is willing to rush in where angels might well
fear to tread. Nor do we care to think of the man
who knows not enough of the intricate and delicate
demands made on the building by the present-day
Sunday school, even to appreciate the difficulties in-
volved in its proper housing. One architect, called
upon to design a great Sunday-school building, vis-
ited a Sunday-school specialist and asked him to
state the organization and requirements of a great
Sunday school. Lest something might slip his mind,
he drew out an old envelope from his pocket to write
down " the organization and requirements of a great
Sunday school." One may readily be excused for
ignorance concerning the vast world of religious
education as it is conducted in the modern depart-
mental Sunday school, but what shall we say of the
man who entrusted v/ith the high task of housing
this institution is so ignorant concerning his own
ignorance as to suppose that a sufficient statement of
Its organization and requirements could be written
on the back of an envelope?
An architect in a Southern city aspired to be a spe-
cialist in the planning of apartment houses. He
read widely, made extended observations, studied
carefully the whole question of domestic architec-
ture. In order to complete his equipment the man
Problems in Housing the Sunday School 65
became an apartment-house dweller. He lived for
years with his family in successive apartment houses
of different types. Thus patiently and persistently
he sought equipment for the planning and designing
of apartment houses. What are we to think of the
architect who never designed a really modern Sun-
day-school house, who knows little concerning the
requirements of the departmental school, who yet
will take fifty thousand dollars, or perhaps even five
hundred thousand dollars, of consecrated money and
turn it into a permanent building without taking the
pains to inform and equip himself for his task?
There is peril to the building project in the haste
which so often marks the planning and erection of
our great church buildings. Roman Catholics may
lay oif a period of five years or even twenty-five
years for the planning and bringing to completion of
a really great church building. Not so with evan-
gelicals. They usually drive through, frequently al-
lowing less than twelve months from the inception
of the building idea to the completion of the build-
ing. All too often, the most vital element In the
whole building program, the planning of the build-
ing, the devising of its floor-space, is slurred over as
if it were a matter of little moment. The commu-
nity which plans its building with the utmost of care,
which makes a study both of buildings and of litera-
ture on buildings, which confers with a wide circle
of informed and interested workers, which, after
plans are maturely made, waits for sentiment to crys-
tallize and errors to be detected, such community
will not likely have much to regret in its finished
building.
VII
HOW TO SECURE NEEDED HOUSING
THE requirements for the new building
ought to be clearly stated and fully agreed
upon. This ought, of course, to be done
before the architect begins his work. Indeed, it
should be a primary step in the building program.
As an illustration of what is here meant and as
suggestive to prospective builders, we present the
schedule of requirements substantially as agreed on
by the First Baptist Church, Eldorado, Ark., for its
proposed new building:
The Auditorium.
Classic style, back and side balconies, seating 1,200
normally, in emergencies 1,500.
A'dministrative Offices.
Pastor's study, pastor's office, at least one Sunday-
school office and a janitor's room.
Social Provisions.
Kitchen, at least one kitchenette or dumb waiters,
tea room, banquet room, parlours. (The latter may
be used also for Sunday-school purposes.)
Sunday-School Provisions.
Provide on normal basis for a school of 1,200
members, with accommodation for 1,500 under pres-
sure. All general assemblies of the school to be
held in the main auditorium.
^6
How to Secure Needed Housing 67
The Sunday-school provisions to be as follows:
Square Dept. Class
Pupils Feet Room Rooms
Cradle Roll Class 48 672 1
Beginners 96 1344 1 8
Primaries 144 2016 1 12
Juniors 192 2688 1 20
Intermediates 192 2688 1 20
Seniors —
(Young People) ... 240 3460 1 8
Adults 288 4032 1 8
1200 16,800 7 76
Sunday-School Requirements.
All department rooms to be sufficiently sound-
proof to admit of departmental work and worship
throughout the school.
All class rooms above the Primary Department to
have plastered walls and tight-fitting doors.
All class rooms to open from the department room
with which they are associated.
Department rooms to be so located as to permit
easy and ready assembly in the main auditorium. No
single entrance to the auditorium to be used by more
than two departments.
Since a normal and evidently fair standard was
followed in the allotment of space there were no
questions and no contests between the various de-
partments as to what was a just proportion of space.
Since the architect was furnished with an exact
schedule of all requirements he was able in his first
effort to furnish almost exactly the floor-space ar-
rangements needed. With a few minor changes, his
plans were adopted and provisions made for the
erection of the building.
It must be at once apparent that this plan offers
68 A Successful Sunday School
material advantages over the haphazard methods fre-
quently resorted to. It saves time for the church, it
saves expense for the architect; it assures adequate
and proportionate provision for each department in
the Sunday school; it guarantees proper provisions
for all types of church activity.
Let us set this same scientific plan of procedure
over against another adopted by a church in a dif-
ferent state. It became known that the church
wished to build. Architects, keen to secure the
work, drew and offered tentative plans. Having no
agreed schedule, they surmised the various require-
ments and made rough guesses as to relative space
for the departments. They made attractive pictures
of the buildings which they proposed. The commit-
tee was charmed by a certain beautiful picture and
chose the architect on that basis, supposing that it
would be easy enough to allot and arrange the floor
space to meet all needs. It developed that their re-
quirements could not be met within the limits pro-
vided and later it developed that the architect, having
no experience in meeting the problems in hand, was
unable to grasp and solve the problems. The com-
mittee wished to be released, but the architect, hav-
ing a signed contract and having expended much
labour, was unwilling to release them. This is
where the case stood when these lines were written.
The two instances, above mentioned, which might
be multiplied many times, sufficiently illustrate and
enforce our plea for a sane, scientific schedule to be
agreed on as the primary step in the building pro-
gram. Supposing that this schedule of needs for the
How to Secure Needed Housing 69
church, the Sunday school, the social life and the ad-
ministrative features has been carefully worked out,
it should then be submitted to a number of thought-
ful workers, pastors, superintendents and Sunday-
school field workers for their frank suggestions.
Meantime it is well for the architect to be fully ad-
vised in order that he may be intelligently sympa-
thetic as regards the ideals and the details of the pro-
posed plan. When the architect has prepared pre-
liminary sketches showing the floor-plan arrange-
ments, these should be carefully scrutinized by a
goodly group whose judgment can be trusted.
The leading denominations have architectural de-
partments created to guide and serve the churches in
these important developments. These departments
may render invaluable service. It should be said in
this connection that architects who have had wide
experience in the planning of departmental Sunday-
school buildings offer substantial advantages over
architects who have not had such experience. Care
should, of course, be exercised to make sure that a
given architect has not simply built churches and
Sunday-school buildings, but that he has erected
modern adapted departmental Sunday-school build-
ings.
The architectural department of the Sunday-
School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,
Nashville, Tenn., has proposed the following:
Standard for Church Buildings
I. The main auditorium shall provide as many
sittings as the churcli has members enrolled in its
membership.
yo A Successful Sunday School
2. There shall be a secondary auditorium suitable
for the prayer-meeting and other week-day gather-
ings. This room should offer about one-fourth as
many sittings as the main auditorium. (One of the
departmental assembly rooms may be used as a sec-
ondary auditorium.)
3. There shall be a pastor's study or office, and at
least one additional office for church or Sunday-
school workers.
4. There shall be separate rooms for the Cradle
Roll Class and for the Beginners' and Primary De-
partments.
5. Department rooms and separate class rooms
shall be provided for the Junior, Intermediate, Senior
and Adult Departments. All department rooms
should be sound-proof so as to permit department
programs and worship. (The number provided for
in the assembly room of any given department should
be about equal to the number provided for in the
class rooms designed for that department.) These
department assembly rooms will usually offer suit-
able provisions for the young people's societies. Spe-
cial care should be exercised to see that ample pro-
visions are made for all the needs and uses of the
young people's societies.
6. Unless there are permanent local conditions
which justify a departure, the relative space allowed
for each department must be in proportion to the
numbers which may properly be expected in each
department, as follows:
Age
Cradle Roll Class... 3
Beginners 4-5
Primaries 6-8
Juniors 9-12
Intermediates 13-16
Seniors —
( Young People ) . . 1 7-24
Adults 25 up
4 per cent.
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of the whole school
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How to Secure Needed Housing 71
The Cradle Roll Class room should be half as
large as the Beginners' room. The Primary room
should be fifty per cent, larger than the Beginners*
room, while the space allowed for the Juniors and
Intermediates should be twice as large as that allot-
ted to the Beginners. The space for Seniors should
be two-and-a-half times as large as the Beginners'
room, and that for Adults should be three times as
large. (The Adults may well use the main audito-
rium for assembly, in which case the requirement for
this department will be correspondingly lessened.)
For each pupil in the Sunday school from the
Cradle Roll Class up, there should be an allowance of
fourteen square feet. Thus for forty Primaries there
should be an allowance of 560 square feet ; for sixty
Juniors we should allow 840 square feet. This al-
lowance of fourteen square feet should be made for
each pupil, whether or not separate class rooms are
provided. Thus the Junior Department of sixty
members should allow a total of 840 square feet, half
of this being given to assembly and half to class
rooms.
(For fuller discussion of the space needed for
each pupil and for each department, see booklet,
" Building for the Sunday School," issued by the
Sunday-School Board's Architectural Department,
Nashville, Tenn.)
7. At least two entrances (preferably four) into
the main auditorium shall be provided to facilitate
the quick assemblage of the whole Sunday school.
(It is assumed that all assemblies of the school will
be held in the main auditorium.)
8. There must be a kitchen and suitable provi-
sions for social functions, such as plays, musicals,
entertainments, luncheons, and banquets. (Social
life may well be administered departmentally and
hence the department rooms may well be used for
72 A Successful Sunday School
social functions. See booklet, " Building for Social
Life/' issued by the Architectural Department.)
9. There shall be a baptistry and suitable robing
rooms. Toilets must be provided for men and for
women.
10. There must be a suitable room for the janitor.
(Many churches are providing for the janitor both a
living-room and a v^ork-room.)
Note, — In the case of small buildings, several of
the above points v^ill not be rigidly insisted upon.
Note. — Any building reasonably meeting the re-
quirements of this standard W\\\ be declared a stand-
ard building, and the name of the church v^ill be
entered upon a special honour roll.
VIII
SOME GOOD CHURCH AND SUNDAY-
SCHOOL BUILDINGS
IN preceding chapters we have set forth the gen-
eral requirements for the Sunday school. In
this chapter we present some buildings from
small to large which fairly illustrate the present
trend in providing for the departmental Sunday
school.
It will be observed that the smaller buildings pro-
vide for the use of the same floor space for audito-
rium purposes and for Sunday-school work. This
arrangement is desirable for economy and for prac-
tical service. In larger buildings it is, of course,
generally desirable to have the auditorium complete
without Sunday-school evidences. This involves
rather large expenditure and hence we present some
buildings of the unified type which group Sunday-
school provisions about the main auditorium.
In all of the larger plans which we offer, there is
a ground floor utilized for Sunday-school purposes.
Properly treated, the ground floor offers large re-
sults at small cost. If cement floor is objectionable,
wood floors may be laid or the cement floor may be
covered with linoleum or cork carpet.
The buildings which are presented in these pages
have been erected or are in course of construction.
73
74
A Successful Sunday School
R. H. Hunt, Architect.
A simple design marking a distinct step beyond the one-
room building. This plan has met with much favour,
having been erected with slight variations in several
states.
Auditorium proper seats 170
Adjoining rooms seat 130
Total seating capacity •^00
Good Church and Sunday-School Buildings 75
An attractive design providing expanding auditorium
and excellent Sunday-school equipment. Lighted and
ventilated by clear story windows. This design is suit-
able for country, village or city.
Auditorium proper seats 1 50
Adjoining rooms seat 125
Total seating capacity 275
76
A Successful Sunday School
An attractive design with unusually flexible and eco-
nomical provisions for church and Sunday-school work.
Good Church and Sunday-School Buildings 77
•Main ftooB. ?l/vn-
Typical design which has much to commend it. Ground
floor and balcony floor plans are shown on the following
pages.
78
A Successful Sunday School
Ground Floor Plan
(Main floor plan is given on preceding pajje and bal-
cony floor plan on the following page.)
Good Church and Sunday-School Buildings 79
€t 0 m m m m
Balcony Floor Plan
(Main and ground floors on preceding pages.)
8o
A Successful Sunday School
Good Church and Sunday-School Buildings 81
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IX
REMODELING PRESENT BUILDINGS
WE cannot too earnestly insist that Sun-
day-school success must depend largely
upon sufficient and adequate housing.
Perhaps the reader has felt some sinking of heart as
he has passed through the preceding chapters which
urge the need for new and adequate buildings, in view
of the fact that he cannot hope for a new building in
his community. Even so, there may yet be hope.
Any present building may be remodeled, or an inex-
pensive separate building may be erected to house
certain departments.
The remodeling of buildmgs with a view to house
the modern Sunday school involves serious difficul-
ties. Architects with wide and successful experi-
ences in designing modern church buildings should
be sought for this service. The problems involved
in the remodeling of larger buildings are so many
and so complex, it is impracticable to offer here sug-
gestions or illustrations. The case is different with
smaller buildings. It is estimated that we have in
this country 60,000 one-room church buildings. Out
of these small churches must come many of our
leaders in all walks of life, men and women who will
be widely Influential. It must be evident that the
Interests of these churches merit earnest considera-
tion.
82
Remodeling Present Buildings 83
We present in the following pages drawings and
suggestions for the remodeling of these one-room
church buildings. The drawings are for the most
part taken from a booklet, "Approved Plans for Re-
modeling Church Buildings," prepared by the au-
thor, and offered without charge by the Architec-
tural Department of the Baptist Sunday-School
Board, Nashville, Tenn. The methods of remodel-
ing presented and illustrated in this booklet suggest
a variety of ways in which the one-room building
may be improved. These include the following:
Addition in front of present building.
Addition to the back of present building.
Addition both at front and back of present
building.
Addition of one story m rear.
Addition of one story and basement in rear.
Erection of two stories and basement at back
of present building.
Addition on one side of present building.
Addition on both sides of present building.
Providing a basement floor.
Utilizing a present basement.
Installing a balcony.
Erection of porch.
Securing a vestibule.
Installing a baptistry.
Providing for a kitchen and for social life.
Providing for a furnace.
Providing for Delco electric light.
Adding a cupola or belfry.
Providing a porte-cochere (covered drive-
way).
Interior alterations.
Interior decorations.
84
A Successful Sunday School
SKETCH OF ADDmCtJ ro
OLD BRtCK CHURCH
V. P. Collins, Architect
Showing how a one-room building may be transformed into an
attractive church house with facihties for modern church and
Sundav-school work.
Remodeling Present Buildings 85
86 A Successful Sunday School
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Remodeling Present Buildings 87
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A Successful Sunday School
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Remodeling Present Buildings 89
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Addition may be made both at the back and on
the sides of the present building.
90
A Successful Sunday School
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X
EQUIPMENT FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
SUCCESSFUL Sunday schools can neither be
built nor run by little men. There must at
least be one big man. Big Sunday schools can-
not be run with little methods. They cannot be run
with little money. The church which plans to spend
$2,000 for its music and depends on the offerings of
the pupils to defray the Sunday-school expenses, will
probably always have a little Sunday school.
Sunday schools must be financed in a big way. It
is a law of life that we rarely get much more out of
things than we put in. If we put pennies and nickels
into the Sunday school, we will get back meager re-
sults. The Sunday schools which have grown really
great have been generously financed. The First
Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, has for a num-
ber of years expended many thousands of dollars
annually in supporting its great Sunday-school pro-
gram.
All of this is said with peculiar reference to equip-
ment. At this point our churches are in special peril
of short-sighted policies. So rapid has been the
growth of the modern Sunday school there can be
little wonder that it is difficult for our churches to
grasp the necessity for ample and adapted equip-
ment. Many of our strongest business men grew up
91
92 A Successful Sunday School
in little Sunday schools which were amply supported
by the tiny offerings of the pupils. The coming gen-
eration which is now being trained in departmental
Sunday schools will find it much easier to meet ade-
quately the equipment needs of the future Sunday
school.
Equipment should be ample and adequate. Good
workers call for good tools. Poor and insufficient
equipment will cheapen any Sunday school. The
author has occasion to inspect many new church
buildings; he often finds the beauty and the useful-
ness of these buildings marred by ill-adapted fur-
nishings brought over from old buildings. We may
direct attention to some leading items in the program
of furnishings for the Sunday school.
Sunday-school Seating. Here we are, through no
fault of our own, facing difficult conditions. Through
the years pews and opera chairs suitable for audi-
toriums of all kinds have been produced which, in
quality and variety, leave little to be desired. As
yet the market for Sunday-school seating has not
stabilized and we must, for the most part, use such
selections as we may be able to make from types of
seats really produced for other purposes. It will
perhaps require some years to remedy this situation.
The Sunday school is entitled to have types of seat-
ing, and indeed furnishings throughout, especially
adapted to meet its peculiar requirements.
It is difficult to offer general hints concerning seat-
ing for the Sunday school. We may safely venture
the following suggestions:
While pews are most suitable for the main audi-
Equipment for the Sunday School 93
torium, they are not adapted for use anywhere in the
Sunday school and should not be considered.
Opera chairs may be used in certain departments,
provided there is no necessity to clear the room for
any purpose. Since this matter of clearing the room
and changing it temporarily for social or other pur-
poses is important, opera chairs are not to be gen-
erally recommended.
If folding chairs are to be used, care must be ex-
ercised in their selection, lest they be stiff in open-
ing and noisy in use. The author knows a junior
department which has felt itself greatly hampered by
a slight creak in the folding chairs which it seems
cannot be remedied, and which causes slight but very
real annoyance.
A study of the catalogues of houses which offer
furniture for schools and churches, will show a
variety of chairs which, by care in selection, will as-
Gure reasonably satisfactory results.
Sunday-school Cabinets. Here again we are in a
transition state. For the time being we must use for
the most part cabinets ;A^hich have been produced for
other purposes. Cabinets built-in, and thus perma-
nent, adapted and always available, are much to be
preferred. Resourceful architects, guided by
thoughtful building committees, can usually find
space for this purpose which might be otherwise
useless, though it ought to be said that this question
of suitable cabinet space is of such vital importance
that it should not be determined alone by questions
of convenience and economy.
Our purpose, however, in mentioning cabinets at
94 A Successful Sunday School
this time is to insist upon the necessity of abundant
and convenient storage space for the whole school,
for each department and for each class.
Blackboards. Sunday-school workers who have
no occasion to frequent public-school buildings
would do well on many accounts to visit some well-
equipped public-school buildings. It may be inter-
esting to note the quantity and quality of the black-
boards provided. Sunday-school workers will do
well to study the methods and the equipment of
well-appointed day-school buildings.
We offer below suggestive lists of furnishings for
each department, as offered in standards of effi-
ciency adopted by the Sunday-School Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, Tenn., and
as is set forth in a special booklet published by the
Architectural Department of that Board.
The Cradle Roll Class Room
1. A low table for the teacher.
2. A piano (not always considered necessary).
3. Chairs (ten inches high), a special chair for
the member whose birthday is to be celebrated.
4. A cradle or Wall Cradle Roll.
5. Hooks for hats, coats, etc.
6. Suitable pictures for the walls.
7. A suitable marker indicating " The Cradle
Roll Class."
8. Suitable floor covering.
9. A cabinet for supplies. Workers' Library,
with suitable case.
10. Cut flowers and growing plants.
11. Blackboard and burlap to which pictures can
be pinned.
Equipment for the Sunday School 95
Beginners' Department
1. A table for the superintendent and a desk for
the secretary.
2. Place for keeping supplies under lock and
key, preferably a closet or built-in cabinet.
3. A Bible for the department. (Department
name stamped in gold on back.)
4. A piano.
5. Chairs suited to the size of the children (ten
inches high).
6. Flowers, occasionally cut flowers or growing
plants.
7. Hooks for hats, coats, etc. (preferably a cloak
room).
8. Suitable pictures for the walls.
9. A mounted portable blackboard about three by
five feet.
10. A timepiece.
11. A thermometer.
12. Workers' Library, with suitable case.
13. A suitable marker over the door of entrance
indicating '* The Beginners' Department."
14. Suitable floor-covering.
Primary Department
1. Superintendent's desk.
2. Secretary's desk.
3. Chairs suited to the size of pupils (twelve
inches high). '
4. Piano.
5. Bibles for the department.
6. A mounted blackboard about three by five
feet, and each class furnished with a blackboard or
at least a lapboard.
7. Flowers — cut flowers or growing plants.
8. Hooks for hats, coats, etc. (preferably a cloak
room).
96
A Successful Sunday School
9. Low tables, provided there is also assembly
space.
10. A timepiece.
11. A thermometer.
12. A suitable marker over the door of entrance
indicating '* The Primary Department."
13. Suitable floor-covering.
14. Place for keeping supplies under lock and key^
preferably a closet or a built-in cabinet.
15. Library for children and for workers, in suit
able case.
16. Suitable pictures for the walls.
The Albright Table
(Offered by Clanton and Webb, Atlanta, Ga.)
The Bapsubo Table
(Offered by the Baptist Sunday School Board,
Nashville, Tenn.)
Equipment for the Sunday School 97
The Victory Table
(Offered by DeLong-Svoboda Co., Philadelphia, Pa.)
Junior Department
1. Superintendent's table.
2. Secretary's desk.
3. Chairs and tables suited to the size of thd
pupils.
4. Mounted blackboards about three by five feet,
and each class furnished with a class blackboard.
5. A piano.
6. Cabinet for curios and collections.
7. Closet or cabinet for literature and supplies.
8. Maps appropriate for the lessons being taught.
9. Suitable pictures for the walls, charts and a
United States flag and a Christian flag.
10. Hooks for hats, coats, etc.
11. Timepiece and a thermometer.
12. Suitable floor-covering.
13. A marker over the door of entrance indicating
" The Junior Department."
14. Bookcase for Junior Library. Books both for
pupils and for workers.
98 A Successful Sunday School
iNTEnMEDIATE, SENIOR AND AdULT DEPARTMENTS.
/. Department Rooms
1. Superintendent's desk.
2. Secretary's desk.
3. Chairs.
4. Piano.
5. Bibles for the department.
6. A mounted blackboard about three by five
feet, and each class furnished with a blackboard.
7. Department blackboard ruled for class re-
ports.
8. Suitable pictures and maps for the walls.
9. Flowers — cut flowers or growing plants.
10. Hooks for hats, coats (preferably a cloak
room).
11. A timepiece.
12. A thermometer.
13. A marker over the door of entrance indicat-
ing the department.
14. Bookcase with books both for pupils and
workers.
15. Suitable floor-coverings.
II. Class Rooms
Table with drawer.
Chairs.
Blackboard with chalk rail.
Bibles.
Pictures and maps.
Standards of Excellence.
Certificate of Registration.
Suitable floor-coverings.
MarJ^er indicating the name of the class.
Equipment for the Sunday School 99
A class room cabinet to be built in wall or door of class
room with two doors, one opening in class room, the other
opening in corridor or department room.
XI
HOW TO BUILD A SUNDAY SCHOOL
THERE is no easy way to build a large and
successful Sunday school. We present in
this chapter what seems to be a perfectly
natural and sure and scientific method of building a
Sunday school. This method has been tested in all
parts of the land. Sunday schools using this method
have again and again doubled and even trebled their
membership. The author may speak with some as-
surance since he was personally associated with a
Sunday school in Nashville, Term., in which the plan
was tried under the leadership of Mr. Arthur Flake,
a specialist in Sunday- School Administration. The
following increases speak for themselves:
Average attendance for September, 1920 — 331
Average attendance for January, 1921 758
Officers and teachers, September, 1920 42
Officers and teachers, January, 1921 91
Weekly offering, September, 1920 $19.21
Weekly offering, January, 1921 65.12
T. Assuming that the enlargement is coming,
make plans to care for the increase. In the effort
100
How to Build a Sunday School loi
mentioned, the first move was to select and assign to
the different departments a large number of possible
prospective teachers. These, together with the pres-
ent officers and teachers, were carefully instructed in
a training school which continued one week, the daily
program being as follows :
Meet in classes by departments, 6 :oo to 6 145 p. M.
Lunch free to all, 6:45 to 7:15.
Again meet in classes by departments, 7:15 to 8:00.
Address, 8 :oo to 8 145.
At the close of the week, there was, for each de-
partment, a group of departmental workers who had
studied under competent guidance a selected book
treating the department in which they were expected
to work. It may be profitable to name here the
books used in this course:
" Plans and Programs for Cradle Roll, Beginners,
and Primary Workers," by Miss A. L. Williams.
" Our Juniors, How to Teach and Train Them,"
by Miss Baldwin.
"The Intermediate Department of the Sunday
School," by L. P. Leavell.
" Building the Bible Class " (Strickland, McGloth-
lin).
By this means a tentative organization was formed
to care for the large numbers which were now con-
fidently expected.
2. Take a religious census. This should be done
by the church which is launching the movement for
the enlargement of the Sunday school. This church
102 A Successful Sunday Schcx>l
will be concerned to cover the territory, will have a
special incentive to do careful and thorough work,
and will need this opportunity to let the whole com-
munity know that it plans to meet its obligations in
the matter of its Bible School.
The successive steps will be somewhat as follows:
(i) Secure needed supplies.
The supplies needed will be somewhat as follows:
(a) Cards for the records of the canvass.
Use a Card for Each Individual*
Name
Number Street
Age (exact age, if possible)
Church Member? .
Answer "yes " or ** no."
Denominational Preference?
If no preference, write " none."
If each blank is not filled in, the information is incomplete.
(b) Cards of instruction to census-takers — at least
a card for each worker. These cards for the in-
struction of the workers, as well as for the records
of the census, may be printed locally, or may be se-
cured from the Sunday-school publishing houses.
How to Build a Sunday School 103
** Lift ttp yout eyes and look on the f ields*''
Instructions to census- takers :
"'■ Master the rules before starting out. Know where you are
to go and what you are to do.
1. Use a card for each individual. Write only one name
on a card.
2. Do the writing yourself. Do not allow any one else to
do it. Be accurate.
3. Fill in each blank on each card or the information will be
incomplete and useless. Be accurate.
4. Get the exact age of each individual up to 20 years of
age. Over 20 and under 31, write " 20-31." Over 31, write
" 31+ ."
5. Stick to your own territory. Don't miss anybody. Be
accurate.
6. When your territory is finished, return the information
immediately to the Church.
(2) Plan for needed canvassers.
A large number will be needed, as the work ought
to be done expeditiously as well as thoroughly.
With proper instruction and guidance, interested
workers with or without special equipment, ought to
render acceptable service. Boys and girls fifteen
years of age and up will do excellent service, espe-
cially if they are associated in pairs with persons of
mature years.
The list of census takers should be carefully made
up; it is not wise to depend upon such a group as
may appear at the church at a given hour in response
to public appeals. The business in hand is serious,
and the work proposed calls for intelligence and
sacrifice.
104 A Successful Sunday School
(3) Define and carefully survey the territory to
be canvassed.
It will of course be necessary to define clearly the
territory which is to be canvassed.
There is no occasion to be unduly scrupulous
about boundary lines. Your purpose is to secure in-
formation about people who attend no Sunday school
and who might properly or profitably be invited to
join your school. Incidentally you may secure much
information which will be of value to workers in
other schools, and such information may well be
handed to other superintendents entitled to it.
It will also be necessary to survey and subdivide
the territory with much care. Generally a commu-
nity map can be secured which will furnish an ac-
curate basis for this survey. This is always a critical
point in the program. Careless or haphazard meth-
ods of districting the territory may result in con-
fusion or the neglect of certain sections. Let a com-
petent committee have charge of this task and let
the work be done with painstaking care.
We have known several copies of a city map to be
cut up so as to give to each couple of canvassers a
map of the precise section for which they will be held
responsible. We have known outline pencilled
sketches to be made of territory to be assigned to
each couple.
(4) Plan to canvass the whole territory in one
afternoon. This has in practice proven most satis-
factory. Sunday afternoon will usually be the most
suitable time. Call the workers together for a brief
season of prayer and for such final instructions as
How to Build a Sunday School 105
may seem to be needed. Send out the canvassers
two and two. The reasons for going in couples must
be apparent; they are practically the same as when
the Lord Jesus suggested this arrangement nearly
two thousand years ago.
Some things need to be especially insisted upon in
this final meeting:
Every home where white people live is to be
risited.
A separate card is to be filled out for every indi-
vidual in the home, from the babe to the aged shut-
in, not forgetting servants and other employees.
Homes where no one is found are to be carefully
noted and reported so that they may be visited at rs
later date.
Accuracy is essential. Errors in data will seri-
ously vitiate the ends sought. Careless handwriting
which cannot be read or which may be misread will
be a source of much loss and confusion.
Courtesy and tact will usually open the way into
any home. If, for any reason, a home does not
open, secure the best possible information from a
next-door neighbour.
Say a good word for the Sunday school. Apart
from all other results, this making of hundreds, per-
haps thousands, of visits should result in a wide ad-
vertising of the school.
After the canvass, let prompt returns be made at
the church where a committee will be receiving re-
ports and checking off the territory as they find it has
been covered.
3. On the basis of the census returns and addi-
lo6 A Successful Sunday School
tional data gleaned from the present church
and Sunday-school rolls, grade and classify the
names of ail who ought to be members of your
school.
Just here is where defeat is frequently met. It is
easy enough in a rush of glad enthusiasm to take the
census and get the desired information. It is not easy
— it requires the finest skill and the utmost persist-
ence— ^properly to use the valuable information se-
cured by the canvass.
In order to make clear what is meant by the above
statement, let us set forth a concrete case. Out of
the returns from a given census all the names which
seemed to be " possibilities " were listed. To this
list were added any names of members of the school
which might have been overlooked. Thus a roll was
secured consisting of all present members and all pos-
sible members of the school. This list numbering
upwards of two thousand was treated as the
school's roll of membership. This membership was
carefully divided into grades and departments, and
classes were formed with teachers throughout each
department.
Thus the school at once numbered upwards of two
thousand on paper. There were more than one hun-
dred classes, many of them paper classes, and all of
the classes comprising names which were only po-
tentially members of the school. Thus the school of
about six hundred members became at once a school
with an enrollment of upwards of two thousand.
From fifty classes or fewer, the school went imme-
diately to more than one hundred classes. All that
How to Build a Sunday School 107
was needed was to make the paper school a real
school.
The departmental officers leading and inspiring
their teachers set about making the paper classes real
classes, and the paper pupils real pupils. It was hard
work. Some teachers were given nothing more than
a list of names. Instead of being called to a well-
established class, a teacher was probably accorded a
space or room with vacant seats and a list of names
and addresses.
Naturally there was some loss and shrinkage in
this large school. The last report the author saw
showed an enrollment of fifteen hundred and an
actual attendance of twelve hundred and seventy-
two. No one will suppose for a moment that such
results as these are to be achieved without very great
and persistent effort. It is believed that the prin-
ciples which underlie the method outlined in this
chapter are the essential guiding principles in any
scientific plan for Sunday-school building.
XII
HOW TO BUILD A SUNDAY SCHOOL
(Continued)
IN the preceding chapter, we have outlined a
sure and scientific method of building a Sun-
day school. There are other ways which have
been tried with success. There are doubtless meth-
ods yet untried which would succeed. The method
which we have offered involves simple and perfectly
natural steps, as follows:
1. Form an organization big and flexible enough
to take care of the large numbers desired and ex-
pected.
2. Find out by a census the names and addresses
of those who ought to be in the school.
3. Assign these names to teachers and depart-
mental officers, and hold these responsible for the
names assigned.
Measured by standards and methods which have
been tested in commercial life and in all promotion
efforts, this simple plan will stand the test. Best of
all, great schools have in various sections been re-
peatedly built in this way.
Many further suggestions might be made. Deep
earnestness, a determination to succeed, energy and
tact, these will develop suggestions and overcome
How to Build a Sunday School 109
obstacles. We may here indicate some methods
which under test have proven their value. These
may well be stated concretely, since they form part
of a story of enlargement in a school in which the
author is a worker.
1. Growth by subdivision. All along the lines
new nuclei were formed. Classes were divided and
in some cases subdivided. New classes of many
kinds were started. When it was seen that a teacher
had the initiative and energy to build a class, his (or
her) pupils were divided and a part sent off to start
a new class. The reward for service was oppor-
tunity to face new difficulties, a new start with the
privilege of attaining success a second or third time.
Whole classes were built up and subdivided into new
classes from pupils brought into the school. Heroic,
courageous and indomitable spirit was manifested.
2. Saving workers by tactful transfer. Inevi-
tably a sudden enlargement of the force of officers
and teachers will result in many square pegs in
round holes. It may develop that workers chosen to
teach cannot succeed as teachers, but might make
successful secretaries, or officers of organized
classes, and thus on and on. It was so in the de-
velopment which we are here tracing. The neces-
sity for occasional transfer was emphasized and the
advantages were clearly set forth. Thus workers
were saved from failure or put in the way to more
effective service.
3. Providing transportation. In every large
church there are likely to be men who operate trucks
for business uses. Why not utilize these trucks on
no A Successful Sunday School
Sunday? They can be driven through outlying dis-
tricts having a definite route and a definite schedule,
and bring scores of children. Streamers prepared
for each side of the truck announcing the purpose
or naming the Sunday school may be a proper and
helpful advertisement. The author has seen this
plan work successfully in more than one instance.
4. Visitation Week, At first one week was set
aside as " Visitation Week." During that week six
hundred and twenty-five visits were reported, while
probably as many more were made which were not
reported, since practically the whole church went
afield on a memorable Sunday and the days follow-
ing. The week was so glorious and blessed it was
continued in to a second week, and upwards of six
hundred more visits were reported, making a total in
two weeks of more than twelve hundred visits. Sat-
urday before the first Sunday in each month is desig-
nated as " Visitation Day " and hundreds of visits
are made on this day.
5. The combined service. The morning services
for teaching and for preaching were combined. In-
stead of a benediction and intermission after the
Sunday-school hour inviting children and young
people to go home, the Sunday-school service was
merged into the preaching service. No other one
thing could have done so much to put the pastor,
the deacons, the whole church influence back of the
Sunday school. The Sunday school has suffered
from nothing more than from being regarded as a
sort of " extra," " an addendum," an " aside," to the
church. The Sunday school will quickly come into
How to Build a Sunday School ill
its own when it is regarded as a vital and essential
church agency invested with the same dignity and
possessing many of the possibilities which mark the
preaching service.
6. A Bible Class conducted in a down-town
theater or public hall. An outline of the methods
pursued in the conduct of a given class may be sug-
gestive.
How the class was built up:
( 1 ) A three-inch two-colimin " ad " was inserted
in all of the local daily papers every Saturday or
Sunday morning.
(2) Five thousand cards, two by six inches, were
distributed each week as follows: two thousand on
Saturday afternoon were passed out in the business
district, dropped in parked automobiles, placed in
hotel room-boxes, and left in boarding-houses. The
remaining three thousand were similarly handed out
on Sunday morning, beginning at 8 130 o'clock.
(3) Two buglers stood on street corners about one
block in each direction from the theater and alter-
nated with the '' army morning call." As this at-
tracted groups of men, cards were again passed with
personal invitation to attend the Bible class.
(4) Large placards, fourteen by sixteen inches,
were placed permanently for display in show win-
dows throughout the business section.
How the class is financed:
Including the cost of advertising and compensa-
tion for the male quartette, the expenses of this Bible
112 A Successful Sunday School
class amounted to about two hundred dollars per
month. This amount is easily raised by individual
offerings in the class. Each man present is given
an envelope and is asked to insert his offering and
write his name and address on the envelope.
How the class is conducted:
It opens and closes on time.
There is never an idle moment. No extra an-
nouncements are permitted. The teacher has just
twenty minutes for a crisp, thoughtful lecture on the
International Sunday-School Lesson for the day.
The class is dismissed promptly at 10:40, giving
ample time for the men to attend preaching services
which follow at eleven o'clock.
This class is marked by good cheer and a happy
fellowship. It is not a preaching service ; that comes
later. A good joke, a play of wit, a bit of repartee,
a pleasant surprise, music such as men love, negro
melodies, anything, everything that is bright, at-
tractive and wholesome is considered in order.
The class is evangelistic and deeply spiritual.
With all the merriment, and through all the varied
programs runs the stress of a serious purpose, the
tone of deep earnestness. The teacher, the pro-
moters of the class, every one connected with it
counts the work of the class as the most genuine of
Christian effort.
Suffer a final word. We have outlined above a
remarkable development. Glancing back over this
story, it is painfully clear that only a rough outline is
given, only some external steps are recorded. The
How to Build a Sunday School 1 13
real story is not told, perhaps can never be told. The
scaffolding, the enclosing machinery, the externals
of the campaign, are set forth. The best things are
not told, the relentless energy born of faith and of
a vision of deep soul-needs, the heroic and self-for-
getting efforts of leaders who, in strange ways, im-
parted their spirit to others, the instant willingness
to put self, time, automobile, anything, everything
on the altar, — these things run along beneath the sur-
face of the brief story which we have outlined.
It is easy to tell of plans, machinery, organiza-
tion, visits, outward efforts. Some, alas, see only the
external and hear only the voice of the machinery.
It is not easy to tell of the heart-sweat, the tears,
the soul-agony, the prolonged waiting before God,
the tireless quest. Perhaps thoughtful and spiritu-
ally-minded souls who read this story told above will
know instinctively that the real and deeper story lies
beneath. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."
XIII
ORGANIZATIONS WHICH HELP TO BUILD
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
A SUCCESSFUL Sunday school must needs
be a complex institution with many inter-
relating agencies to which the school con-
tributes and which in turn make contribution to the
life of the school. There are many organizations
which have proven helpful in the building of Sunday
schools. No one of these is to be launched or main-
tained merely for the purpose of increasing Sunday-
school attendance. They all have their proper place
and render their legitimate service which is to be
kept always in view.
Organhations for Boys and Girls:
An informing article on " Community Organiza-
tion for Boys and Girls," in " The Encyclopsedia of
Sunday Schools and Religious Education" (Nel-
son), classifies such organizations as (i) religious;
(2) semi-religious, and (3) welfare. The best
known organizations are listed as follows:
I. Religious.
The Junior Baraca Loyal Movement, the Junior
Brotherhoods of St. Andrew, and of Andrew and
Philip, the Junior and Intermediate Christian En-
114
Organizations Which Help 115
deavour Societies (including the Baptist Young Peo-
ple's Union and the Epworth League), the Mission-
ary and Sewing Circle, the Messenger Cadet Corps,
the Prayer Band, the Boys* and Girls' Choirs, the
Dorcas Circle, the Queen Esther Circle, the Mission-
ary Class, the Temperance Legion, the Philathea
Class, the Standard Bearers, the Life Saving Serv-
ice, the King's Sons and Daughters, the Boy Trust,
the Bethany Girls, and the Church Attendance
League.
2. Semi-religious.
The Knights of King Arthur, the Knights of the
Holy Grail, the Knights of Galahad, the Knights of
Saint Paul (Kappa Sigma Pi), the Epworth Court
of Arthur, the Knights and Esquires of the White
Shield, the Knights of Methodism, the Covenanter
companies and Miriam Chapters, the Queens of Ava-
lon, and the Girls' Friendly Society.
3. Welfare.
The Boys' Brigade, the Anti-Cigarette League, the
Mass Boys' Qub, the Church Boys' Club, the Wood-
craft Indians, the Boy Pioneers or Sons of Daniel
Boone, the Achievement Club, the Girl Pioneers of
America, the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, the
Athletic League (Simday school or public), the Na-
tional First Aid Association, the Agricultural Club
(corn or canning), and the Social Center,
Among the most popular and helpful of the or-
ganizations for boys and girls, we may mention the
Boy Scouts and its sister organization, The Girl
Pioneers of America. We indicate below the
sources of information for both of these organiza-
1 16 A Successful Sunday School
tions and we need only mention here some outstand-
ing items in their general program.
The Boy Scouts of America had its beginning in
this country when it was incorporated under the
laws of the District of Columbia in 1910. The new
organization proved popular and quickly absorbed
all similar organizations. There are three succes-
sive stages of advancement from the tenderfoot, to
the second-class scout, to the first-class scout. The
scout law which must be memorized and obeyed
from the tenderfoot stage indicates the spirit and in
a measure the purpose of the movement:
I.
2.
A Scout is Trustworthy.
A Scout is Loyal.
3.
4.
5.
A Scout is Helpful.
A Scout is Friendly.
A Scout is Courteous.
6.
A Scout is Kind.
7.
A Scout is Obedient.
8.
A Scout is Cheerful.
9-
10.
A Scout is Thrifty.
A Scout is Brave.
II.
A Scout is Clean.
12.
A Scout is Reverent.
The Girl Pioneers of America, companion organi-
zation to the Boy Scouts, offers outdoor life and
sports and seeks to develop strength, courage and
resourcefulness in girls. Every girl is asked to
make the following pledge:
I will speak the truth at all times.
I will be honest in all things.
I will obey the Pioneer Law.
Organizations Which Help 1 1 7
The Pioneer Law, like tliat of the Boy Scouts, em-
braces twelve points. The Law is:
1. A Girl Pioneer is trustworthy.-
2. A Girl Pioneer is helpful and kind.
3. A Girl Pioneer is reverent.
4. A Girl Pioneer chooses happy, cheerful,
wholesome topics for conversation.
5. A Girl Pioneer keeps herself physically well
and strong.
6. A Girl Pioneer Is self-respecting and keeps
her thoughts clean.
7. A Girl Pioneer is brave.
8. A Girl Pioneer is loyal.
9. A Girl Pioneer does not speak ill of any
one.
10. A Girl Pioneer is cheerful.
11. A Girl Pioneer is industrious and thrifty.
, 12. A Girl Pioneer always remembers that peo-
ple are worth more than money or things,
and the Girl Pioneer values another for
what that other really is, not for what she
has.
Boy Scout literature is as follows :
Baden-Powell, Sir Robert. " Boy Scouts as a
National Organization." (London, 1910.)
Baden- Powell, Sir Robert. " Educational Possi-
bilities of the Boy Scouts' Training." (London,
1911.)
Young, R. E. comp. " Boy Scout Tests and How
to Pass Them." (Glasgow, 1913.)
Information concerning The Girl Pioneers may be
had from Miss A. B. Beard, Secretary, Flushing,
Long Island, N. Y.
Another organization which has been popular is
Il8 A Successful Sunday School
the " Camp Fire Girls." Groups of girls from ten to
fifteen in number are drawn together under the di-
rection of a Guardian. Such groups are called
" Camp Fires " and each group is supposed to have
its own distinctive name.
Weekly meetings are held under the direction of
the Guardian and a special " Carnp Fire " service is
held once a month in which the girls wear their beads
and their ceremonial gowns and carry out a symbolic
ceremony.
The tasks for which " honours " are granted cover
the range of a girl's obligations and activities from
the simple duties of the home to the obligations of
business. Some examples as presented in the liter-
ature of the general organization are as follows :
To make a shirtwaist.
To cook meat in four ways.
To do all the work in a successful garden.
Wood carving. To make a useful piece of furni-
ture.
• To live for one year on a given allowance which
shall cover all personal expenses, and to keep full ac-
counts.
To be free from every indication of a cold for
two consecutive months between October and April.
To tell the history and meaning of the American
Flag and the flag of the country from which her an-
cestors came.
Girls must be twelve years of age before they can
be Camp Fire Girls. Information and literature can
be secured by addressing Headquarters, Camp Fire
Girls, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Organizations Which Help 119
The Organized Class,
Organizations of the kind which we have pre-
sented are helpful both in their direct purpose and
in their indirect influence in building the Sunday
school. Since the organized class is organically a
part of the Sunday school and is primarily con-
cerned with its upbuilding, it is the most dependable
and fruitful of all the means yet devised for Sun-
day-school building.
The organized class is able to multiply its own
members. The really large classes of the country
are all organized classes. It is not uncommon to find
classes which number into the hundreds and occa-
sionally we find classes which pass the thousand
mark. The superintendent or pastor who aspires to
build a large Sunday school will do well to give sym-
pathetic backing and full sympathy to his organized
classes.
The organized class may indefinitely multiply its
ministries. The Adult Department of the Interna-
tional Sunday-School Association offers a leaflet en-
titled " One Hundred Things One Hundred Organ-
ized Bible Classes are Doing." The following selec-
tion from the total list, which represents a hundred
classes in nineteen denominations, will be suggestive
of the varied lines of service in which organized
classes may engage, and will prove stimulating to
organized class workers.
1. Contributed $1,500 toward the erection of a
reception room in the new church building In which
^t present all services are conducted.
2. Furnished music for the choir, hymn-book/
120 A Successful Sunday School
for the congregation, and paid musical tuition fee of
the organist. Membership 25.
3. Contributed $60 to the support of a native
preacher in India. Membership 60.
4. Five members of class have entered college to
prepare for ministry. Class is supporting one for
the first year. Membership 296.
5. Contributed $60 to Sabbath School Mission.
Membership 310.
6. Conducted campaign of "Alley Evangelism"
in the neglected sections of their community v^^ith the
purpose of carrying the " good tidings " into these
byways. Membership 112.
7. Supported Deaconess working among the mill
people of their city. Membership 75.
8. Assumed the responsibility of managing and
teaching a class of boys from 13 to 18 years of age
which has grown in six months from 13 to 25.
Membership 72.
9. Provided the following workers for the Sun-
day school: Primary, Junior and Intermediate De-
partment Superintendents, Teacher in Senior De-
partment, three assistants in Primary Department,
two members of Orchestra, eight members Senior
Choir, three Home Department visitors, two members
Teacher Training Class, one or two substitute teach-
ers each Sunday, Chairman Home Missionary Com-
mittee of Woman's Society, and a number of work-
ers in the Christian Endeavour Society. Membership
80.
10. Secured employment, found boarding-houses,
visited the sick, looked after the poor and unfortu-
Organizations Which Help 121
nate of the class and community, and helped prison-
ers on parole when they were found worthy of such
help. Membership 350.
11. Gave winter's lecture course w^hich attracted
large attendance and aroused general interest in
the city. This was the means of interesting
men of literary habits in the class work. Member-
ship y6,
12. Conducted street meetings regularly during
the summer months. Membership 400.
13- Organized and led a county delegation of 350
to the State Convention. Sixty-five members of
their own class were in the company. Membership
150.
14. Organized and maintains a church library
for Bible School, Christian Endeavour, and Mission-
ary workers of the church. At present has $40
worth of sectional bookcases containing about 250
volumes. Membership 125.
15. Class has helped to maintain a work among
boys at an average expense of $8 per week, or a total
of over $400 per year. This movement has resulted
in a boys' work which is greatly blessing school,
church and community. Membership 225.
16. Have organized and are now conducting in a
neglected part of the city a Mission Sunday school
which has an average attendance of 47. One of their
own members is superintendent of this school.
Membership 100.
17. Take charge of church prayer-meeting the
first Thursday of each month. Membership 48.
18. Contributed $35 of Native Bible in China,-
122 A Successful Sunday School
where one of their own members is a missionary.
Membership 45.
19. Conduct a prayer circle each week to pray
for the women of the church. Membership 54.
20. Conduct a reading room which is kept open
each night. Membership 345.
21. Class is maintaining a room where every
evening music, sewing-machines, periodicals, lesson
helps, games and cordiality can be enjoyed by young
women. Membership 185.
22. Are educating a young lady to be a mission-
ary. Membership 225.
23. Two hundred dollars given annually to sup-
port a student preparing himself for the ministry.
Membership 221.
24. Paid for course of treatment for a young
man suffering with rheumatism and unable to work.
He was restored to health and enabled to take up
his work again. He and his wife recently united
with the church. Membership 114.
25. Contributed $120 to the expense of renovat-
ing the Sunday-school rooms, in addition to caring
for the entire expense of redecorating their own
class room.
26. Expends several hundred dollars annually
in Mutual Benefit Association for the relief of
members incapacitated by illness. Membership
200.
27. Conducted regular cottage meetings for Bible
study and prayer, which have been attended In three
years by 200 different women. Membership 50.
28. Is assisting one of its members to take a col-
Organizations Which Help 123
lege course with the ministry in view. Membership
135-
29. Took an active part in the temperance cam-
paign, wielding the balance of power in a ward
where the vote was very close. Membership 143.
30. Gave supper for 200 poor children at Christ-
mas time who were brought to the church in vans,
and after being clothed and fed, a real Santa Claus
gave each child a personal gift. Upon leaving the
church each little guest received a pair of mittens
and a box of candy. Membership 250.
31. Meets bi-monthly in the evening for Mission
study. Membership 28.
32. Have opened rooms as a meeting place for
young men and conduct them along the lines of a
local Y. M. C. A., which the town is too small to
support. Membership 12.
33. Are paying the rent of a consumptive who is
unable to work. Membership 183.
34. Two classes have united in conducting a
down-town lunch room where the girls can get a
good wholesome lunch, cheap, with the privilege of
rest rooms and employment department. Member-
ship 47 and 85.
35. Publishes a monthly paper, The Purpose,
in the interest of church, school and class. Member-
ship 194.
XIV
SOCIAL LIFE AND THE SUCCESS OF THE
SUNDAY SCHOOL
THE social appeal may offer a strong attrac-
tion to people younger and older, while h
properly ordered program of social activi-
ties may be of real educational and religious value.
Ours is essentially a social gospel. The Lord Jesus
in His ministry mingled freely with all types of peo-
ple and " table-talk " constituted a large element in
His teaching ministry.
Follozving department lines. More and more so-
cial life will follow the subdivisions of the Sunday
school. Each department in the Sunday school
should provide needed social functions for its mem-
bers. The Beginners should have their own parties,
the Primaries and Juniors should have their separate
entertainments, the Intermediate Department and the
Young People's Department should each have distinct
socials, while the Adults should develop in the de-
partment or in special classes the types of fellowship
and social diversion which they may seem to require.
In many churches this is an established custom.
Some churches seek to have some kind of social
" meet " for each department each month, or at least
each quarter.
We should no more provide one large room as the
" Social room " than we should provide one large
124
Social Life and Success 12_J
room and call it the *' Sunday-school room." We
were doing that two or three decades ago, but we
have passed that day. There is as much reason for
departmentizing the social life as for departmentiz-
ing the Sunday school itself.
Why departmentize social activifiesf Some im-
portant conditions favour the departmentizing of the
social life of the people, following the lines of the
departments in the Sunday school.
1. This assures congenial groups which can be
managed together in any type of entertainment
which may be undertaken.
2. This assures about the number which can be
successfully managed and enables the workers to de-
termine in advance about what numbers should be
provided for.
3. A motive is provided since the workers in a
given department may utilize the social functions as
a means of building up their department.
4. This arrangement has additional advantage in
that the officers of the department constitute a group
of workers equipped and trained to direct the activi-
ties of the members of the department.
If we are to utilize the department rooms for so-
cial purposes, it will be well to furnish these rooms
with this end in view. Suitable floor coverings, such
as large rugs, crex matting, or linoleum, should be
provided.
Kitchenettes or dumb-waiters may be arranged for
rooms which are not adjacent to the main kitchen.
During the construction of the building, dumb-wait-
ers may be installed at low cost.
126 A Successful Sunday School
Social Versus Recreational Provisions.
There is a manifest desire on the part of our
churches to minister to the practical needs of the
people. This desire grows out of the urgency of cer-
tain needs and out of the very legitimate wish to
open the way for the gospel which we preach. The
necessity for ministry on the part of the churches in
meeting social and recreational needs was much em-
phasized by certain experiences of the world war.
Besides the social life which forward-looking
churches have long been wont to provide, the
churches are considering the gymnasium, the swim-
ming pool and other means of recreation. It is not
our purpose to consider here the expediency of these
recreational agencies, but we do wish to say that first
attention should be given to the social needs. Ours is
a social gospel. Properly-directed social activities
will yield immediate fruit in larger attendance upon
the teaching and the preaching services and may be
made to contribute to evangelism and the upbuilding
of all good things in the community. Social activi-
ties and the proper mingling of the people in pleas-
ant fellowship Is essential to the very life of our
churches and to the gospel ends which we seek.
Happy and successful are the churches which meet
as fully as possible the social needs of their con-
stituency. This makes for solidarity of spirit, for
full understanding and closer fellowship, and for the
conservation of all the forces of the congregation.
In a word, we must provide for and cultivate the
social life of our people, while we may if the way
seems open and the demand seems to exist, minister
Social Life and Success 127
to the recreational needs of the community. The
great churches, those in our busy centers and those
in our rural districts, which are reaching the people
in worthy fashion are pressing every effort to min-
ister to the social needs of all types and all ages.
For reasons which must be apparent, such ministry
must be more vital and fruitful and at the same
time much less expensive and burdensome than ef-
forts directed more definitely toward recreation,
such as the gymnasium and the swimming pool.
Adapting the building to meet social needs. The
church building must serve at least three great ends.
It must provide for the preaching of the gospel.
It must house the teaching service.
It must offer accommodations for social life.
The modern church building is the result of an
evolution; it reflects the development of church life
and activities. Threescore years ago church houses
were built almost exclusively for preaching.
Through long experience we have perfected our
ideals as regards provisions for the preaching serv-
ice. These ideals have been clearly stated by many
writers and have found expression in many build-
ings.
Gradually we have wrought out clear and definite
ideals for the building provisions needed by the
modern Sunday school. These also have been fully
stated and illustrated, and they are being rapidly in-
troduced into the planning of modem church build-
ings.
The necessity to make some provision In the
church house for social functions has been long rec-
128 A Successful Sunday School
ognized, but little effort has been made to state or to
illustrate the underlying ideals which should guide
us here. At this point we seem still to live in the
days of the Judges, since ** every man does that
which is right in his own eyes," and no one has un-
dertaken to formulate general suggestions for our
guidance.
A Fair Balance is Required.
Provisions for preaching, for teaching and for
social life must receive proper relative emphasis.
Are there buildings which seem to lend themselves
almost exclusively to the preaching service ? Possibly
there are church buildings which come dangerously
near to being mere Sunday-school houses. As yet
.we have perhaps not developed buildings which over-
emphasize the social side. Certain it is that the
ideal church building will offer a reasonable balance
as between these three great lines of service. No
one of them can safely be neglected and no one of
them must dominate the building.
The Same Floor Space Must Generally Be Used
Both for Social Purposes and for Sunday-School
Uses.
We saw recently the floor plans for a great church
plant which is expected to cost well on toward a
million of dollars and which will certainly be an out-
standing building in the whole country. No space
in the plans was marked " parlour " or " social." A
large kitchen was provided adjacent to the Adult
Department with the idea that by the clearing of
chairs any room or rooms in that department might
Social Life and Success 129
readily be made available for banquets or other so-
cial functions. Kitchenettes were provided near
each of the other departments with the evident in-
tention of using the department rooms for serving,
parties and any other type of social life.
Some Helpful Books.
Earnest attention has been given in recent years to
all phases of social activity in church and Sunday-
school life. As a consequence we have many sug-
gestive volumes from which it must be easy to select
a few choice books which, if placed at the disposal
of the departmental workers, will offer a variety of
fresh and stimulating suggestions.
The Association Press, New York, issued some
years ago a book entitled, " Social Activities for
Men and Boys." The book offers a digest of mate-
rial and plans furnished by men who have faced and
practically solved the problems of entertaining in
wholesome fashion men and boys. Social events,
games, entertainments are described and treated as
a means of attracting and holding men and boys so
that they may be led into the happiest kind of life
of body, mind and spirit. The following selections
from the classified index will indicate the scope of
the book.
Banquets and Dinners.
Camps and Camping.
Clubs for Boys.
General Social Events.
High School and College,
Outings.
Parlour Tricks.
130 A Successful Sunday School
Receptions.
Socials for Less than Twenty.
Socials for More than Twenty.
Socials Including Ladies.
Songs and Yells.
Summer and Outdoor Affairs.
The United Society of Christian Endeavor offers
a suggestive volume, " Enjoyable Entertainments,"
which has met with much favour. It presents out-
lines and more or less complete guidance for special
evenings with educational and religious ends con-
stantly in view. The following selected headings
will illustrate the type of ** evenings " which the book
proposes :
A Woodland April Joke.
The Waking of the Spring Flowers.
Santa Claus Motion Song.
A Japanese Ceremonial Tea.
An Indian Drill.
Scenes from " Pilgrim's Progress."
A Musical Evening.
A Millinery Marvel.
Mrs. Jarley's Waxworks.
Museum of Very Natural History.
Easter Lily Drill.
High Junks Along the Milky Way.
The Beggar Prince.
A Window Evening.
Scenes from American History.
A Surprise Flower Garden.
"The Children's Book of Games and Parties" is
replete with guidance for the entertainment of little
children and of boys and girls. The following para-
Social Life and Success 131
graphs from the " Foreword to Mothers " are so
sympathetic and discerning that they win a quick
confidence in the abihty and purpose of the author
to make really helpful suggestions.
"The child's red letter day is the day when
mother allows him to have a party, or when he plays
a happy game with some other children.
" There is a very real reason for this child's happi-
ness. A party means for a child his first attempts
at giving pleasure to others; his pleasure in games
means that he has an opportunity to subordinate him-
self to others and find joy in being part of a small,
social group.
*' Too often we plan children's parties that are so
elaborate that they take away from the child's fine
joy in hospitality; he has no share in preparing for
the party, and no part in the entertainment of his
guests. And often, too, we encourage a child to play
alone, not realizing how important in his develop-
ment are the games that he plays with other boys
and girls.
"'The Children's Book of Games and Parties'
aims to help mothers to plan simple entertainments
for ever}^ possible occasion in the child's year, and
it offers games that will help to train the child's
dawning social instinct. The parties and games
cover all the interesting mile-stones In a child's life;
holidays, birthdays, and the different seasons. Each
entertainment has been planned having in mind those
activities and plays that most interest children and
they also give children a good deal to do in the way
of handicraft."
132 A Successful Sunday School
The book is written in popular style, having in
mind children's as well as mothers' reading.
" Good Times with the Juniors " is offered by the
United Society of Christian Endeavor and has
through many years demonstrated its practical value.
Miss Lilian M. Heath is the author; in the preface
she has this timely word:
" One thing is certain. He who said, * Of such
is the kingdom of heaven,' was speaking of those
whose only conscious motive was play — natural,
graceful, happy, loving life-expression. The growth
resulting was involuntary. With the growth came
new impulses, new activities, and new growth. It is
the plan, in God's kindergarten. Brother, if we
would grow, let us not be afraid to play ! "
In the suggestions for " A Rope Social," the de-
lightful and wholesome spirit of the book finds
ample illustration:
This is best fun when held in a barn, or a
large attic, if stairways, etc., are safe ; and it will
prove a good opportunity to " rope in " new
members, or at least to make those who are not
members wish that they were. There is no pro-
gram, though Christian Endeavour songs at
the beginning and close are in order at every
Junior social. Girls may bring their skipping
ropes ; and, if the place admits of swings, by all
means put up several stout ones. Introduce the
game of " rope ring toss," or " grommet-pitch-
ing," as it is called by sailors. The rings are made
of rope with the strands first separated so as the
better to weave them into smooth, firm rings
about six to ten inches across. They are made
all of the same size, or of graduated sizes, as
Social Life and Success 133
preferred. If desired, they may be wound with
ribbon. The game consists in throwing these
" grommets " over an upright stake, or over
pegs driven in the wall or in a board, each peg
being numbered. The players have each a cer-
tain number of throws and the score is kept to
see who is the most skillful.
When tired of this, they may play the game of
" pink violets," composed of a little delightful
nonsense and a good deal of running. The song
which accompanies it may be sung to the tune
of " Sing a Song of Sixpence," or to any other
that it will fit, or to not much of any tune at all.
The words are as follows :
"Pink, pink violets, and roses bright and blue!
A Junior in a prison — whatever shall we do?
We'll open the window east, and we'll open the
window west,
And never, never tell if the prisoner does the rest! "
The children range themselves in a circle, hold-
ing a rope to help keep the circle of a uniform
size. One of them, the prisoner, goes inside the
ring; another, the jailer, stands outside. They
begin to sing, and at the words, " We'll open
the window east, and we'll open the window
west," the players on first one side, then the op-
posite, lift the rope high enough for the prisoner
to pass under; but the jailer outside is watching.
The prisoner may take his choice, but must run
out at one side or the other before the song
stops, and must try to run once entirely around
the ring before being overtaken by the jailer.
Those holding the rope must neither help nor
hinder the runners after the start is made, and
the openings must be at about equal distances
from the jailer. If the prisoner can run clear
around the outside of the ring without being
134 A Successful Sunday School
overtaken, he takes his place with the rest, be-
tween the two whose *' open window " set him
free; the former jailer becomes prisoner, the
former prisoner's right-hand neighbour becomes
jailer, and the game proceeds as at first. But, if
the prisoner is touched ever so lightly by the one
in chase, he is sent back to the center, where he
must remain; the jailer joins the ring anywhere
he chooses; his right-hand neighbour becomes
the new jailer and his left-hand one a new
prisoner with privilege of escape; and so the
game continues. Each time only the new pris-
oner may run out. Whenever a third of the
players are in the center at one time, it ends tlie
game.
After the enjoyment of the games and swings
an old-fashioned molasses candy-pull may com-
plete the festivities, and, as the Juniors vie with
one another in pulling and deftly handling these
most fascinating " ropes " of all as they gradu-
ally assume a light golden colour, the social is
sure to be voted a success.
" Social to Save," by Amos R. Wells, has been
before the public for many years with undiminishing
usefulness. The opening words of the book must
commend themselves to all thoughtful Christian
workers :
A company of men and women were ship-
wrecked on an island. Death stared them in the
face, — death from the hungry waves that lashed
the shore, death from the hunger that lashed
their fainting bodies. Wild beasts were prowl-
ing through the gloomy woods behind them, and
a cold night was settling down. What did they
do? The captain urged them to get together,
build a fire, organize two bands, one to hunt for
Social Life and Success 135
food while the other made a stockade for safety,
and then, around the fire, safe in the stockade,
the entire company would eat and drink and
praise God together.
But they did none of these things. Said one,
" I am too busy ; don't you see I have set my
stakes for a house ? '' Said another, " I am too
bashful to go into company." Said a third,
" The ship's crew are dreadfully coarse men,
and reall)^ the party would better be more se-
lect." Said a fourth, " I am too tired ; it will do
me more good to sleep." " But it is for life,"
urged the captain ; " for life and safety."
Nevertheless, he urged in vain.
A True Picture.
You know that no such scene as this was ever
on earth ? Would you were right ! For, indeed,
I have only pictured to you in a figure precisely
what is happening every month in thousands of
our Christian churches. Shipwrecked com-
panies are w«, cast up on these strange shores of
time out of the vast ocean of eternity, with
death and that ocean impatiently awaiting us,
and hunger at our hearts, and the night coming
down, and the beasts in the woods. And our
Captain urges us, for life, for safety, to live for
one another; to gather around the same camp
fire ; to give the reassuring pressure of the hand
and clasp of arm around the neck; to drive
away by love the wild beast of loneliness, and by
friendly merriment the ghost of gloom. " Be
social — to save," cries our Captain. But we
have no time. And we are too bashful. And
we abhor disagreeable people. And we want
our own set. And it does not come easy. And
we are too tired with our day's work. And
there will be enough without us.
XV
RECREATIONS IN THE BUILDING OF THE
SUNDAY SCHOOL
WE must insist here as we have done else-
where that all measures adopted by the
churches, such as week-day organiza-
tions and all recreations shall be used to serve their
own primary and legitimate ends. Social ministries
must seek their own proper purposes and must not
be inaugurated simply to build the Sunday school or
the church. This must be evident and goes with the
saying. At the same time such ministries must re-
act favourably on the life of the Sunday school and
in many outstanding instances have contributed di-
rectly and largely to the success of the Sunday
school.
All public-spirited citizens stand ready to boost
and build the institution which unselfishly seeks to
meet community needs. With the growth of our
cities and the increasing congestion of daily life,
wholesome recreations are becoming a necessity.
The Young Men*s Christian Association and similar
organizations have made Invaluable contribution in
these lines, but the needs are so great and the op-
portunities for service so varied there can hardly be
any real competition.
Visitors to the Temple Baptist Church, Los An-
136
Recreations in Building 137
geles, California, have been favourably impressed
with the attractive open space near the church build-
ing, operated by the church, and offering the privi-
lege of certain open-air games, notably lawn tennis.
The heart instinctively responds to the appeal of the
church which concerns itself with the recreation
needs of its constituency.
The gymnasium and the swimming pool or the
shower baths have, under certain conditions, met
with favour and these have aided materially in en-
larging Sunday-school attendance and increasing the
general usefulness of the Sunday school.
The practical service possible through these indoor
recreations must of course depend in a measure upon
conditions of climate. In the northern sections of
the United States and in Canada, the need for all
manner of indoor sports must be great. Through the
long winter months snow and ice abound and shut
the people in. Throughout the southern sections of
our country where even the winter months are open
and sunny, the people naturally seek exercise and
recreation in the great out-of-doors.
The author has seen more than one expensively-
constructed gymnasium in the Gulf States abandoned
because the climate permitted and almost compelled
open-air exercise.
The value of the gymnasium and the swimming
pool must also depend largely upon community con-
ditions and needs. The down-town church may find
in these recreational facilities a real asset in the
building of the Sunday school since these facilities
meet a real need among the people which the church
138 A Successful Sunday School
seeks to serve. Another church located ten blocks
away in a residential district may try to duplicate this
successful work of the down-town church only to
meet with utter disappointment. This has actually
occurred.
It ought also to be said that the burdens and diffi-
culties involved in the installation and successful
handling of the gymnasium and the swimming pool
are such that no community ought to undertake such
service without a careful counting of the cost. To
meet the highest demand of usefulness the gymna-
sium must meet certain standard requirements as to
size, height of ceiling, light and ventilation. This nec-
essarily involves heavy expense. The play room which
some architects indicate as " the gymnasium " in
their floor-plan drawings, is frequently located on
the basement floor with many obstructing posts and
with poor ventilation. Among workers who have
had successful experience with the gymnasium,
there is an agreement that if such work is to be un-
dertaken at all it should be done on a worthy scale
with the provision of proper and ample equip-
ment.
If the question of expense must be considered in
connection with the gymnasium much more must
this question be considered when we face the prob-
lem of a swimming pool. The First Baptist Church,
Fort Worth, Texas, laid down seven distinct layers
as a foundation for its swimming pool. The build-
ing was made safe and the great body of water was
rendered secure, but this was done at heavy expense.
It is of course a serious proposition to inclose
Recreations in Building 139
100,000 gallons of water in the midst of the founda-
tions and substructure of a great building.
Great as is the initial cost involved in the construc-
tion of these facilities, the expense of upkeep must
not be overlooked. A gymnasium calls for a physical
director or directors and this means, of course, a
constant outlay. A swimming pool may be a men-
ace in many ways unless there is a competent and
careful attendant. Besides the water must be fre-
quently changed and this alone may constitute a con-
siderable item of expense.
It must be apparent that these recreational facili-
ties, in order to make real contribution to the moral
and spiritual life which the Sunday school seeks
especially to build, must be managed with great skill
and wisdom. It is easily conceivable that these rec-
reations, if not wisely guarded, may be dissipative
and may work for the undoing of the real ends
which are sought in the Sunday school. So true is
this, the consensus of opinion among thoughtful
Sunday-school workers does not seem to regard with
favour these types of endeavour.
XVI
ADVERTISING THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
THE successful Sunday school will be its
own best advertisement. Such a school
will advertise itself. This is one of its
distinct advantages. Any worth-while institution
gets a deal of free advertising. The Sunday school
which by its good equipment, its fine organization,
its excellent teaching attains high rank becomes an
asset to any community, and public-spirited citizens
of all kinds take pleasure in setting forward its in-
terests.
Nevertheless Sunday schools need to advertise. It
is well enough to make the school good and attract-
ive. It is also needful in tactful and effective ways
to let the community know concerning the attain-
ments and the attractions of the school. As busi-
ness men are not content to have good goods, but go
further and spend large sums to let the world know
about the goods they have, so Sunday schools can-
not be content with good wares of faithful and effi-
cient service, but must in all tactful ways let the
people know what they offer.
Church advertising, including of course Sunday-
school advertising, is In recent years entering upon
a new era. In practically every city there are ag-
140
Advertising the Sunday School 141
gressive and wide-awake churches which advertise,
sometimes on bulletin-boards, sometimes in newspa-
pers, sometimes by the distribution of hand bills or
placing of placards. Since all other institutions
which must appeal for support and patronage to the
general public find it profitable to use various types
of advertising, it is reasonable to suppose that
churches and Sunday schools will do so. The
church program for advertising should be a unified
program and for this reason a general committee
should direct the whole plan. At the same time ad-
vertising should be definite and particular. Some
one thing should stand out with its appeal and other
things, if mentioned at all, should be incidental.
There is, of course, much publicity which a large
Sunday school may expect which will be gladly
given space as news. This type of publicity may be
much more valuable than display advertising for
which good sums would have to be paid. It is to be
remembered that when a Sunday school grows a
very large constituency and comes to hold a distinct
place in a community, all that concerns it and all
that is planned by it has an added news-value. The
Sunday school should, therefore, have a live pub-
licity representative who will see that news-ma-
terial is promptly offered the local papers and the
denominational press. This representative may well
be some young man or woman engaged in newspaper
work, or some one possessed of newspaper experi-
ence. Any young person who is alert and tactful
may, however, successfully render this service.
It is safe to predict that Sunday schools will in-
142 A Successful Sunday School
creasingly make use of display advertising in local
newspapers. Concerning the propriety of this, there
can be no reasonable question. If it is right to offer
spiritual and educational advantages, it is of course
right to announce these advantages through legiti-
mate channels with a view to extending the bless-
ings to the largest possible numbers. The question
of expense is more serious. Church advertising of
striking themes and other attractions in local news-
papers has generally resulted in such enlarged plate
collections as more than meets the necessary ex-
pense. It will be borne in mind that the main bud-
get of expense is not greatly increased by the bring-
ing in of some scores of pupils into the Sunday
school. But the bringing in of these scores of pu-
pils may materially enlarge the weekly offerings.
Thus the expense of proper publicity may be offset
by enlarged offerings to the school. Even if this is
not practicable, it will probably always be possible
to find men and women of means who will count it
a privilege to make possible a proper advertising
campaign.
Organized classes of men and women may, in the
effort to keep their own class activities and claims
before the people, render to the whole school a valu-
able service. The advertising of any class or de-
partment in a Sunday school is really advertising the
whole school. Large classes for men which meet in
the church auditorium or In down-town theaters, or
in other public halls may, directly or indirectly, ren-
der helpful service in keeping the Sunday school be-
fore the community.
Advertising the Sunday School 143
The observant superintendent with an instinct for
publicity will easily think of many methods of ad-
vertising his Sunday school. We venture to list
some simple methods which have found favour.
1. Use the weekly church bulletin. This little
sheet may well give much space to the largest and
most active of the church institutions. Some Sun-
day schools issue a special weekly bulletin of their
own and fill it with live newsy material.
2. Use the weekly religious paper or papers.
The colimms of these papers will be open to stimu-
lating news items. They frequently carry a weekly
report of attendance of Sunday schools which attain
or pass a given number.
3. Have a special Sunday-school bulletin-board.
This may be a large blackboard on which may be
written Sunday-school announcements or Sunday-
school slogans. Or better, it may be a patent ad-
vertising board with movable letters. These may be
home-made or purchased from the supply houses.
Or this publicity board may be so arranged that type-
written notices may be attached. Most large Sunday
schools can use to advantage a special bulletin-board.
4. Patronize the bulletin company of your city.
Sometimes suitable posters can be procured from the
Sunday-school publishing houses.
5. Street-car placards constitute an effective
publicity medium. These cards will be helpful at
any time, but will be especially so, Saturday and Sun-
day morning.
6. Cards or letters may well be distributed in
boarding-houses and hotels on Sunday mornings.
144 ^ Successful Sunday School
7. Neatly framed placards announcing the Sun-
day school and inviting to its services are helpful
when placed in railroad stations, hotel lobbies, stores
and other public places.
8. The local papers, whether weekly or daily, are
usually glad to carry news-notes and announcements
which are of interest to any considerable number of
their readers.
The ** Publicity Hand Book," prepared by Mr. F.
E. Burkhalter especially for the use of Southern
Baptist churches, gives specific suggestions for pre-
paring news-copy and display advertising which
must be of value to those who lack experience and
training in the preparation of such material. These
suggestions are so timely and come with such high
authority, we venture to reproduce some of them.
1. Submit only such matter as is fresh. Material
that is out of date is not news.
2. See that all copy is easily read. Use type-
writer if possible and leave ample space between lines
for correction. Write only on one side of the paper.
3. Use simple words, brief sentences and short
paragraphs.
4. Tell all the essential facts of the story in the
first paragraph as briefly and in just as interesting
manner as possible.
5. Leave plenty of space at the top of the first
page for the writing of headlines, but do not under-
take to furnish these headlines yourself.
6. Be accurate. Never sacrifice your facts for
interest, but present them in as attractive and brief
fashion as possible.
Advertising the Sunday School 145
7. Write for the man of the street, avoiding
clerical and other technical expressions. The aver-
age man is not highly educated, but he understands
plain English.
8. Never ask for the insertion in the news col-
umns of matter that should be paid for as advertis-
ing.
9. Get copy to the papers as early as possible.
For afternoon papers copy usually has the best
chance for publication if handed in by 8 a. m., and
for morning papers not later than 5 p. M. For
weekly papers, early Monday morning is usually an
acceptable hour.
XVII
THE TEACHERS' MEETING AND THE
WORKERS' COUNCIL
THE first of these, true to its designation, is
not an organization, but a meeting, an as-
sembly, of teachers for study and mutual
profit. The Workers' Council, also true to its desig-
nation, is an organization, the governing body of the
school, the proper medium through which plans and
policies for the school are developed and announced.
The Teachers' Meeting. It should, of course, be
held weekly. A schedule which has found favour in
many large schools is somewhat as follows :
Wednesday
6:00 p. M. Meet for lunch.
6:30 p. M. Departmental conferences.
7:00 p. M. Teachers' Meeting for study
of lessons.
7:30 p. M. Mid-week prayer-meeting.
The lunch should either be free to all interested
workers, being provided by the church, or it should
be offered to the officers and teachers upon the basis
of approximate cost. Willing hands and loving
hearts can with proper appeal be enlisted to prepare
this evening meal, as can be attested by the experi-
ence of churches in various parts of the land ex-
tending through many years.
146
The Teachers* Meeting 147
Various methods have been suggested as suitable
for the conduct of the teachers' meeting. The so-
called " Angle Method " has met with special favour
and has much to commend it. The outlines for the
teachers' meeting used in the First Baptist Church,
Nashville, Tenn., are offered as suggestive.
The purpose of the weekly Teachers' Meeting as
contemplated in this program is four-fold :
1. SOCIAL. The opportunity afforded by the
thirty minutes lunch for fellowship is helpful
and uplifting.
2. BUSINESS.
(i) The general conference for fifteen minutes at
the close of the lunch around the table di-
rected by the Superintendent gives an oppor-
tunity for the presentation and discussion of
questions affecting the school as a whole.
(2) The departmental conferences, ten minutes,
preceding the lesson period, affords an oppor-
tunity for the consideration of vital questions
concerning the work of each department.
Led by departmental superintendents.
3. LESSON STUDY— thirty-five minutes.
(i) Graded lessons: two graded lessons for fol-
lowing Sunday taught in each group twenty-
five minutes. Brief talks on " Lesson-Build-
ing," and story-telling, ten minutes. Adjourn
at 7:50 to mid-week prayer-meeting.
(2) Uniform Lessons. "Angle Method." The
" Angle Method " presents a simple, practical
148 A Successful Sunday School
plan to teachers for gathering material, plan-
ning the lesson and methods of teaching it.
Adjourn to mid-week prayer-meeting, 7:50.
4. PRAYER.
At 7 : 50 the officers and teachers assemble
with the mid-week prayer-meeting.
Brief reports from each departmental super-
intendent as to attendance and interest.
GRADED LESSON ASSIGNMENTS
Should be made by departmental superintendents one
week in advance. Assigned to teachers in rotation.
UNIFORM LESSON ASSIGNMENTS
Should be made by the general superintendent or
the general secretary on Sunday morning preceding
the Teachers' Meeting. Assigned in rotation alpha-
betically.
" THE TEN ANGLES "
ANGLE No. I — Lesson Text — Lesson Story.
Read the lesson text or tell the story in your
own words.
ANGLE No. 2 — Connection.
Give subject of last lesson, brief intervening
histoi-y, time, place and circumstances leading
to this lesson.
ANGLE No. 3 — Biography.
Give the names of persons, classes and na-
tions mentioned or referred to in this lesson.
ANGLE No. 4 — References.
Give helpful references and parallel passages
showing how they bear on the lesson.
The Teachers' Meeting 149
ANGLE No. 5 — Orientalisms.
Give any Oriental customs or manners pecul-
iar to this lesson, or any facts in geography
that would be helpful in understanding it.
ANGLE No. 6 — Point of Contact.
Give a good way to introduce this lesson, so
as to secure attention from the start.
ANGLE No. 7 — Central Truth.
Give the central truth of the lesson and the
reason for its choice.
ANGLE No. 2r— Other Teachings.
Put on the blackboard the other important
truths.
ANGLE No. 9 — Illustrations.
Give one or two illustrations that will help in
teaching this lesson.
ANGLE No. 10 — Practical Application.
Make a practical suggestion of the teachings
of this lesson.
Each Angler will have three minutes — no more.
ASSIGNMENT OF ANGLES
We want you
(Name of teacher)
to be present Wednesday evening
(Date)
192 1, to present Angle No
The Workers' Council. This body should be com-
posed of the general officers, together with the de-
partmental officers, including, of course, the officers
of the Cradle Roll and the Home Departments. Reg-
i^o A Successful Sunday School
ular monthly meetings should be held and such oc-
casional meetings as may seem to be required. At
these meetings the superintendent, of course, should
preside, while the Sunday-school secretary should
keep all necessary records.
The meeting offers opportunity to consider and
determine policies and plans, and will constitute a
means of harmonizing and unifying the work of the
entire school.
XVIII
TEACHER TRAINING ESSENTIAL
TO SUCCESS
THE teacher stands central in the whole
Sunday-school program. The entire or-
ganization is to be built around the teacher.
If the teacher fails, the whole framework of the
Sunday school goes largely for naught. Successful
teachers make successful Sunday schools. The wise
superintendent will keep a clear and constant eye
on the teachers and will count the work of the
teacher as every way fundamental. The trained
teacher is moreover essential to successful Sunday-
school management. Superintendents find that the
teachers who lend intelligent support to their
cherished plans for organization and enlargement
are invariably the teachers who have received train-
ing.
Our teachers must be trained because of the dif-
ficulty of their tasks and the limitations under which
they labour. They teach not the material which is
tangible and visible, but spiritual truth which can
neither be handled nor seen. They teach a book
which from its nature and from the conditions un-
der which it was produced involves peculiar diffi-
culty. They interpret to unfolding life God, His
character, His revelation and His redemption. Not
151
152 A Successful Sunday School
only do our teachers have a difficult task; they have
peculiar limitations and restrictions in the perform-
ance of this difficult task. Unlike public school
teachers they can neither enforce discipline nor re-
quire study. They have only about thirty minutes in
seven days for their teaching work, while many cur-
rents are all the week inevitably sweeping counter to
their teaching.
Our Bible School teachers ought to seek training
because a little training will do so much for them.
A little knowledge, according to the old proverb, is
a dangerous thing. In some lines and under some
conditions this may be true, but it is not true that a
little training is dangerous to a sensible and devout
teacher. Every teacher knows the essential features
of Sunday-school management and organization; a
little special instruction will give him a vision of ap-
proved modem methods in management and organ-
ization. Every teacher knows something, perhaps
much, of human nature and the laws of the mind
and heart ; a little special instruction will clarify his
knowledge of the pupil and set him in right lines of
endeavour. All teachers know something of the
laws and principles of teaching; but a little definite
and well adapted guidance may remove difficulties
which have long baffled and may start in lines of
more successful effort. It means much that the
teacher shall have an ideal toward which to strive.
With such an ideal he will certainly grow and de-
velop as a teacher. A little training skillfully ad-
ministered will give such an ideal and thus put the
teacher in the way of constant improvement.
Teacher Training Essential to Success 153
The Bible School teacher should seek training he-
cause thus in the midst of congenial associates and
in the pursuit of congenial tasks he can find that
mental stimulus and that intellectual refreshment
which he needs. His duties, increased by his volun-
tary service in the Sunday school, may forbid his
finding recreation and refreshment in " Shakespear-
ean Clubs " or " Conversational Clubs " or in any
other of the helpful or inspiring lines which are open
to people of more leisure. Many busy and burdened
religious workers have found in the training class
the very " club " they have long needed.
Our teachers should seek training because of the
wonderfully interesting and profitable lines of study
offered in our Normal Courses. One who knows not
the fine points of modern Sunday-school manage-
ment can hardly boast of reasonable intelligence con-
cerning ordinary matters of current religious work.
All the world is studying life, psychology, under
some phase or name. Our Normal Courses give in
charming fashion the principles underlying pupil
study. From the earliest history of the race the
principles and laws of teaching have been of deep in-
terest. But our Normal Courses bring to plain peo-
ple these principles in the simplest, most helpful way.
People are studying the Bible in numbers and with
zeal never known before. But the Bible work of-
fered in our Normal Courses is the crispest, bright-
est, most practical work anywhere offered.
Our teachers ought to be trained because such
training is the order of the day. Literally thousands
of Christian workers are now enrolled in training
154 A Successful Sunday School
classes. Many schools have already established a
rule that none but diploma holders may occupy posi-
tions on their teaching staff. Once we entreatingly
asked, " Will you teach ? " Now, we are asking,
*' Can you teach ? " A teacher with nearly fifty years
of experience in teaching said recently on receiving
a Normal diploma, " I see a great procession moving
on and I cannot get my consent to be left out."
Finally, our teachers ought to seek Normal train-
ing because such training is offered zuithout money
and witJioiit price. At great expense the Sunday-
School Boards maintain for the sake of these teach-
ers Departments of Sunday-School I^Mucation,
which place all of their resources freely at the dis-
posal of Sunday-school teachers. The International
Sunday-School Association lends itself without re-
serve to these tasks. Skilled field workers serve the
churches and the teachers freely to the extent of
their ability. Leaflet literature, awards, record^
keeping are offered without charge.
XIX
RECORDS IN THE MAKING OF A SUC-
CESSFUL SUNDAY SCHOOL
RECORDS constitute a vital factor in build-
ing and maintaining a Sunday school. Suc-
cessful Sunday-school leaders lay prime
emphasis on their records. Department stores have
been made x->ossible by systems of bookkeeping which
enable the general manager and the department
heads to look constantly and clearly through the
business of each department. Departmental Sunday
schools in like manner depend for their success on
records which reflect conditions throughout the
school.
Accurate records tactfully made public constitute
a suitable recognition which must prove a desirable
award for faithfulness. This will hold for the school
as a whole, for each department and for each pupil.
The value of such publicity has long been recog-
nized in Sunday-school work, and in recent years,
especially in connection with efforts to build very
large schools, this publicity of records has come to be
regarded as invaluable. So true is this that some
large Sunday schools are employing expert stenog-
raphers at considerable expense to keep the records
and prepare statements for individual pupils, for
155
156 A Successful Sunday School
classes, for departments and for the whole school.
Pupils who are at present studying in the public
school or who have in past studied in public schools,
will readily recognize and appreciate the educational
value of accurate records.
Various systems of records have been developed,
all of them possessing elements of merit. Perhaps
the most scientific and effective system yet devised is
" The Six- Point Record System." The name of the
system gives a hint of its nature ; it records six points
upon which the officers, teachers and pupils are
graded, i, Attendance; 2, On Time; 3, Bible
Brought; 4, Lesson Studied; 5, Offering; 6, Attend-
ance on the preaching service.
Are not these six things essential to a successful
Sunday school? Primarily we desire attendance;
regular attendance is necessary if we are to accom-
plish the educational and religious ends which we
seek. Punctuality is greatly to be desired, both for
the immediate work of the Sunday school and as a
measure of equipment for life's tasks. Ours is a
Bible school ; what can be more meaningful than the
bringing of the Bible into the school sessions? May
not the substitution of "helps" of various kinds des-
troy the distinctive element in our school? Surely
we desire studied lessons. Sunday-school teachers
do not have the authority nor exercise the discipline
which the public schools permit and some gentle
stimulus Is needed to secure a regular study of the
Sunday-school lessons. The bringing of an offer-
ing Is essential, both for the maintenance of self-
respect in lending a proper support to the institution
Records 157
which so unselfishly ministers to us, and for the de-
velopment of the habit of giving. Attendance on the
preaching service is, of course, a prime essential for
Sunday-school pupils. We must not grow a genera-
tion which is careless and neglectful of the worship-
service of the church.
Thus this Six-Point Record System emphasizes
the six outstanding duties which require to be
pressed upon Sunday-school scholars. The proper
use of this system brings these six cardinal duties
constantly to the attention of the members of the
school. It is difficult to overestimate the possibili-
ties in the quiet continuous appeal and influence of
the system when operated through the years.
As devised and offered by the Sunday- School
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nash-
ville, Tenn., the system provides cards, differing in
colour, to be used in keeping the records. (These
appear at the end of this volume.)
Records and Recognitions in Order to he Effective
Require the Utmost Care and Accuracy.
The Six-Point Record System and all similar sys-
tems, in order to be educationally effective, must be
skillfully and accurately handled. Any looseness
which encourages or permits pupils to obtain credits
to which they are not entitled, must be positively
harmful. Instead of cultivating valuable life habits,
we may thus confirm habits of duplicity which will
be immeasurably harmful. In the easy-going atmos-
phere which marks the Sunday school and in the ab-
sence of the discipline which marks the day-school.
158 A Successful Sunday School
pupils may claim " studied lesson," when the
thoughtful teacher will discover that the claim is
not well based. Pupils will sometimes declare their
purpose to " attend preaching," thus getting the
credit due on this point, while the observant teacher
may note that the pupils later on overlook or " for-
get " their intention to remain for the preaching
service. Pupils may carelessly claim credit for " on
time " when the teacher may recall that they came
in after the required time. In all of these condi-
tions the pupils are to be safeguarded, gently and
sympathetically, with a view to real character-devel-
opment.
The making of the records in the class and in the
departments must be done with such dispatch as will
prevent the taking of undue time from the study of
the Bible-lesson. The general superintendent will,
especially in the early months of the introduction of
the system, wish to carefully guard this point. A
class of one dozen pupils, marking each on six dis-
tinct points has been actually known to consume
more than half of the time allotted for the lesson
in the leisurely making of the records !
All methods of stimulus which involve recogni-
tion and the appeal to the desire for credit must be
carefully administered. The motives to which we
thus appeal, while they are within limits legitimate
and entirely proper, are yet not the highest motives.
We may encourage lesson-study by a suitable award
in the way of credit or recognition, but the wise
teacher will constantly foster also other and better
motives and will seek to inspire lesson-study by
Records 1 59
means of the beautiful charm and interest of the
lessons themselves. We may for a time secure
church attendance by means of certain credits given,
but if we are vi^ise we will not rely too strongly on
this motive, but will cultivate a love for the sanc-
tuary which will make attendance on the worship-
hour a voluntary and spontaneous joy.
The fact thus pointed out that credits and recog-
nitions may be handled in a careless or arbitrary
fashion so as to produce pretense and hollowness
must not militate against their usefulness when
rightly handled along with other high motives. Some
perils are almost inevitably involved in all devices
for the quickening of interest and the stimulation of
effort. A good record system effectively admin-
istered is of inestimable value in promoting the best
Sunday-school work.
XX
WEEK-DAY WORK FOR THE SUNDAY
SCHOOL
IN other chapters in this book we have discussed
various week-day activities. In order to direct
special attention to this question which is vital
both in building and in maintaining a large and ef-
ficient Sunday school, we bring together in this chap-
ter some special suggestions.
The week-day activities suitable for the Sunday
school are of course many and varied. We may
roughly classify them as :
1. Social activities.
2. Recreational activities.
3. Athletics.
4. Social uplift.
5. Class or Sunday-school building.
6. Daily Vacation Bible Schools.
Social Activities. It requires mucH sympathy and
not a little discernment to direct the social activities
of different groups, especially when those groups are
somewhat far removed in age or viewpoint from
ourselves. In general it is safe to let such groups
follow largely their own impulses and determine
their own plays and entertainments.
160
Week-Day Work for the Sunday School 16 1
Those who may wish suggestions for the enter-
tainment of children, will find Carolyn Sherwin
Bailey's " The Children's Book of Games and
Parties " most helpful. The book falls into two
parts — games and parties. Among the games which
Miss Bailey suggests and describes, are the follow-
ing: Ball Games, Games for the Barn, Games for a
Walk, Games for a Rainy Day, Games for the School
Yard, Fireside Games, Rainy Sunday Plays, Games
and Plays at any Party, Hallowe'en Games, Wind
Games. Under the head of Parties, she discusses
besides these Story Parties, A Noah's Ark Party, A
Soap Bubble Party, The Child's Birthday Party, A
Gingerbread Party, and a Garden Tea Party.
It is, of course, more difficult to direct the social
activities of young people and adults. Mr. Walter
M. Wood has stated five tests which from the stand-
point of the Young Men's Christian Association
should be applied to any contemplated social event.
The tests may apply as well in the case of the Sun-
day school. Substituting the Sunday school for the
Young Men's Christian Association, these tests
would be :
1. Will It attract men and boys into the Sun-
day-school fellowship?
2. Will it aid the Sunday school to assimilate
its members into its varied activities?
3. Will it socialize the members by bringing
different individuals and groups into such
contacts as will increase their interest in
each other, reducing their prejudices and
cultivating their sympathies?
l62 A Successful Sunday School
4. Will it recreate or relieve from the tedium
and enervating strain of one's usual line
of thought and action?
5. Will it culture or grow the finer sensibilities
and appreciations?
Mr. E. C. Knapp, General Secretary of the Inland
Empire Association, has given us an invaluable book,
" The Sunday School Between Sundays." Chap-
ters of special interest are as follows :
Socials and Stunts, Picnics and Outings, Saturday
Afternoon Outings, Parades and Pageants, Athletics
and Playgrounds, Gardens and Gardening, Mission-
ary Dramatics, Children's Parties, Beautifying
Grounds and Buildings, Boy Scouts and Camp Fire
Girls, Some Miscellaneous Activities.
Recreational Activities. Under this head would
fall diversions as offered by the Boy Scouts, The
Pioneer Girls, The Camp Fire Girls, and similar or-
ganizations. See Chapter XL
Athletics. Many churches are providing play
rooms, gymnasiums and swimming pools in their
buildings, and especially in the southern parts of the
country where the bright open weather tempts to
out-of-door sport, the churches are providing cro-
quet grounds, tennis courts and other open-air play
grounds.
Social Uplift. Various phases of social service
appeal especially to organized classes. The Organ-
ized Class Departments of the Denominational
Boards or of the International Sunday-School Asso-
ciation will furnish literature making helpful suggef
tions.
Week-Day Work for the Sunday School 163
Class or Sunday-School Building. Efforts in the
direction of extension and enlargement offer, of
course, an endless variety of week-day activities.
Suggestions are offered in various chapters of this
book and in the books which deal especially with the
building of Sunday schools.
Daily Vacation Bible Schools. In our congested
cities multitudes of children play in the streets ex-
posed to all kinds of peril throughout the vacation
season. The Daily Vacation Bible School has dem-
onstrated its practical value in assembling these chil-
dren for training and Bible study. Literature and
full information may be secured from the Daily Va-
cation Bible School Association^ 90 Bible House,
New York City.
XXI
WHAT OF SPECIAL DAYS?
IN the really successful Sunday school every
Sunday must be a special day. The secret of
success lies in steady and continuous processes
faithfully maintained. The Sunday school is an in-
stitution which is both spiritual and educational in
its nature. It engages in serious business. This
business calls for sane, continuous and persistent
effort. It is primarily concerned with the teaching
of the Bible and it succeeds or fails in proportion as
it imparts Bible knowledge in ways which strengthen
and develop Christian character.
The observance of *' Special Days " has without
doubt been overdone. The temptation is great and
the tendency is constant to depend on special days
with attractive announcements and unusual pro-
grams for the stimulation of attendance and the
maintenance of interest. Certain Sunday schools
have won the unenviable title of " Special-Day Sun-
day Schools." Some time ago a Sunday school in a
certain city attained a reputation for exceedingly
large attendance, reports stating that the attendance
often reached four thousand, with the suggestion
that this was probably the largest Sunday school in
the world. Feeling a special interest in large Sun-
164
What of Special Days *? 1 65
day schools, the author sought fuller information
with a view to visiting the school. He learned that
the Sunday school in question was a '' special day
school." On certain occasions, by extensive adver-
tising, by strenuous promotion methods, by offering
a specially attractive program, the school drew to-
gether thousands of people. It was stated that the
superintendent, being a man of means and of great
zeal, freely expended money and at times even gave
cash awards for the bringing of certain numbers. It
developed that ordinarily the attendance averaged
only about four or five hundred ! This kind of Sun-
day school, with its inflation and pretense, makes a
spectacle over which angels might well weep. Such
a school dissipates and vitiates the efforts of serious
workers to teach the Bible and to promote character-
building processes.
The Sunday school which seeks to live and grow
on the poor and variable interest which may be
aroused by the observance of special days and by the
use of spasmo'dic methods, is in a most pitiable
plight. The Sunday school which, by special meth-
ods, secures large occasional attendance which it can-
not hope permanently to maintain, by so much un-
dermines real Bible instruction and brings itself
under suspicion of faulty methods.
Our Sunday schools have suffered much by such
zealous and too-frequent observance of special days
as lowers the spiritual tone, interferes with sober and
continuous Bible study and caters unduly to the love
for the sensational. According to Mr. Marion Law-
rance, more than two hundred special days are being
l66 A Successful Sunday School
observed by the Sunday schools of America, " while
at least one hundred of them have come into more or
less prominence." It is interesting that an institu-
tion with only fifty-two sessions in the whole year
should have developed a hundred special days which
have come to be generally recognized.
The word of caution which we have set down re-
garding special days must not be allowed to weigh
against a sane and proper observance of some such
days. The very fact that this idea has been over-
worked is some evidence of its inherent merit. The
All-wise Father has broken what might be the mon-
otony of an unbroken year by giving us four more
or less clearly-defined seasons. Our natures crave
variety. While the Sunday school is concerned pri-
marily with Bible study, it yet faces out in so many
directions and touches life at so many angles, a
proper recognition and observance of special days
may be fruitful in many ways.
The earlier conception and observance of " Spe-
cial Days " usually involved the setting aside of the
lesson and the ordinary program for some special
and extraordinary program. It is doubtful whether
such procedure is ever desirable or justifiable.
Gradually we have come to recognize that we may
maintain our lesson period and our general schedule
and yet in many helpful ways observe special days.
The most important of the special days, such as
Christmas and Easter, have been given place and
proper treatment in various lesson systems. This
makes their observance natural and almost inevitable.
There are many special days to which no Sunday
What of Special Days ? 167
school can well afford to be indifferent. Some of
these come in the natural round of the calendar, as
Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July; others grow out
of the needs of the Sunday school itself, as Rally
Day, Home Department Day, Cradle Roll Day; yet
others grow out of the obligations of the Sunday
school, as Missionary Day, Denominational Day,
Orphanage Day. A proper observance of these and
similar days may without breaking the regular Bible
instruction, or disturbing the usual order, stimulate
attendance and serve important educational pur-
poses.
This question, like all others which concern the
Sunday school, must be considered departmentally
as well as from the standpoint of the school as a
whole. There are days which may profitably be ob-
served by certain departments which would be en-
tirely meaningless to other departments. Christmas,
for instance, will mean much more to the younger
grades than to the grown-ups. Decision Day can
have little place in the Cradle Roll Class or in the
Beginners' Department. Certain days may well be
observed in some of the departments and entirely
ignored in others. Certain days may well be largely
emphasized in some departments and may have much
less emphasis in other departments.
Mr. Marion Lawrance has brought us under obli-
gation by his admirable book, " Special Days in the
Sunday School." The book is replete with happy
and stimulating suggestions and is indispensable for
superintendents who are jealous for the freshness
and variety of their programs. Mr. Lawrance well
l68 A Successful Sunday School
insists that a majority of special-day celebrations
should be confined to the opening service of the
Sunday school in order that the period of Bible
study may be uninterrupted. Among other sug-
gestive chapter headings, v^^e find a long list of special
days happily grouped as follows : " Departmental
and Related Days," " Anniversary Days," " Patriotic
Days," "Folk and Fraternal Days," "Educational
Days," " Missionary and Benevolent Days," " Mis-
cellaneous Days," and "Evangelistic Days." This
book might well be in the hands of every general and
departmental superintendent.
XXII
STANDARDS FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
STANDARDS have long been used to stimulate
Sunday-school attendance and to increase
Sunday-school efficiency. Like all other stim-
ulants the standards must, of course, be used skill-
fully and in accordance with sound educational prin-
ciples. We have become familiar with standards of
at least three kinds.
Class Standards.
Departmental Standards.
Standards for the Whole School.
These standards have been widely offered and ex-
ploited by the Sunday-school houses. Full informa-
tion concerning the various standards may be had
upon application to any of the denominational pub-
lishing houses or the State Headquarters of the In-
ternational Sunday-School Association.
The Sunday-School Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention, Nashville, Tenn., has erected a special
super-standard for the larger Sunday schools which
have better equipment. Smaller Sunday schools or
schools without adequate buildings are not encour-
aged to undertake to reach this Advanced Standard.
Since It is believed to be the only standard of its kind
yet erected, and especially since it has demonstrated
169
lyo A Successful Sunday School
its power to stimulate and bless the type of Sunday
schools which we are discussing in these pages, we
give below this
ADVANCED STANDARD
I. AN ADAPTED BUILDING
1. Department and Ci^ass Quarters.
The building shall provide ample facilities to enable
each department and class to be " standard."
_ (Standards for departments and classes will be fur-
nished on request.)
2. BUII^DING FACII.ITIES FOR MaIN ScHOOL.
The building shall provide adequately for the assembly
of the whole school v^^hen desired, as well as ample and
convenient quarters for the library, and for the secre-
taries.
II. PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
3. Equipment eor the Main Schooi,, Departments and
ClyASSES.
The school shall provide ample physical equipment, in
the way of furniture, appliances, musical instruments,
etc., for the use of the general officers, and the main
school, as well as for the departments and classes, as re-
quired by the Departmental and Class Standards.
4. Records and Library.
The school shall provide ample supplies and appliances
for an adequate system of records, and an adequate
library. (1) For General Officers: records and report
blanks needed by each in his specific work; a blackboard
for the General Superintendent; (2) for the General Sec-
retary: a room or designated space, furnished with suit-
able desk, shelving and drawers, also the Secretarial sup-
plies needed for the Record System and a blackboard for
his report; (3) there shall be a piano and an ample
supply of song books; (4) the Librarian shall have suit-
able desk room, shelving, record and report blanks and
serving facilities conveniently located. (.5) The Record
System shall include: (a) Enrollment, (b) individual
records of officers, teachers and pupils, (c) class records
Standards for the Sunday School 171
and reports, (d) departmental records and reports, (e)
general records and reports and (f) quarterly or monthly-
reports to the home. (6) The Library must contain
one-half (J^) as many bound volumes as there are pupils
enrolled in the school, exclusive of the beginners, pri-
mary and home departments, embracing in the subjects
an equitable distribution among Baptist Doctrine and
History, Sunday School and B. Y. P. U. work, Missions,
Temperance, Soul-winning, Christian Service and Stew-
ardship, with a proper proportion of books for the pupils
of each department above the primary.
IIL DENOMINATIONAL SUPPORT
5. Supporting a Fui,i, Denominationai, Program.
The school shall give active support to the full pro-
gram for benevolences, missions, and Christian educa-
tion as outlined by the denominational organization
with which the church affiliates.
6. Ai,i, Causes Presented Educationai,i.y.
All the causes fostered by the denominational organiza-
tion, with which the church affiliates, shall be presented
annually to the school educationally, as well as for
contributions, as scheduled.
IV. TRAINED WORKERS
7. Training oe Generai, Geeicers.
All the general officers shall hold the Convention
Normal Course Diploma, fifty per cent (50%) of them
holding the blue seal, and there shall be one full post-
graduate among the officers and teachers of the school.
8. Training of the Departmentai, Geeicers and Teachers.
The training requirements of the departmental officers
and of the teachers shall be as indicated in the depart-
mental and class standards hereinafter provided.
V. STANDARD DEPARTMENTS AND CLASSES
9. Standard Departments.
All of the departments of the school shall be " stand-
ard " departments as follows: Cradle Roll, Beginners,
Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Adult and Home
departments.
(See department standards which will be furnished on
request.)
172 A Successful Sunday School
10. Standard Ci^asses.
Four classes in the Junior department and four classes
in the Intermediate department, two of boys and two of
girls in each, two classes in the Senior department, one
of young men and one of young women, and one class in
the Adult department shall be " standard."
(See class standards which will be furnished on re-
quest.)
HOW TO ATTAIN THE ADVANCED STANDARD
The one comprehensive requirement in the Standard
is point 9, which declares that each of the eight depart-
ments of the school shall be " Standard." Schools as-
piring to attain the Advanced Standard will therefore
seek first of all to bring each department up to meet the
Standard erected for it. While this is being done, atten-
tion will be given to the various requirements of the
Standard as set forth above.
All Standard awards are bestowed for the calendar
year in which they are granted.
Applications must be made anew for each succeeding
year.
XXIII
THE COMBINED SERVICE
EXPERIMENTS almost without number have
been made in combining the Sunday school
with the preaching service. Manifestly
something is seriously wrong with our long estab-
lished custom. We assemble the people for the study
of the Bible. We go through a complete program
of worship. We pronounce the benediction; very
likely the pastor oifers this " closing prayer." Then
we wonder that great numbers go away and do not
return later to the preaching service.
Could any procedure be more naive ? If we really
wished our children and young people to go away,
could we more skillfully encourage them to do so?
Pastors have lamented, parents have grieved, teach-
ers have mourned, superintendents have berated, but
what is more natural than that people should leave
when every arrangement is made to that end and a
" benediction " is pronounced in anticipation of their
leaving if not in invitation for them to take their de-
parture? That was a discerning pastor who served
notice on his superintendent that he must never ask
him to pronounce a benediction after the Sunday-
school service and ask the Lord to send the people
away. They will go away in sufficient numbers
173
174 A Successful Sunday School
without being especially invited to do so. Surely we
must find " a yet more excellent way."
The combined service has long been put forward
as a solution of the problem of the non-attendance
on the preaching service of the Sunday-school pupils.
It has not always proven satisfactory. The habits
which have grown through generations cannot lightly
be set aside. Any innovation in established methods
of worship must be skillfully introduced and wisely
handled. The author has seen the combined service
successfully introduced and has seen it in at least
one instance pass the experimental stage.
This program seems to have met with favour; all
of the departments meet for opening service in their
own rooms ; the departments from the Juniors up as-
semble in the main auditorium twenty minutes be-
fore the hour for the preaching service. The Be-
ginners and Primaries conduct their own closing
exercises and dismiss from their department rooms.
When the Sunday school is assembled in the audi-
torium reports are received and posted, announce-
ments are made, brief worship is conducted. The
pastor is on the platform through this period, and
without intermission at the time for opening the
morning worship, the choir begins to sing the doxol-
ogy and the pastor takes the place of the superin-
tendent and proceeds with the service. It is not
necessary to make either service shorter, though with
the presence of large numbers of children in the
preaching service, the pastor will naturally guard the
time for the preaching hour.
Certain permanent and exceedingly gratifying re-
The Combined Service 1 75
suits have been manifest. The older people declare
that never before in the history of the church did the
children and young people attend the preaching serv-
ice in such numbers. As a natural consequence, the
auditorium was crowded, chairs being used in the
aisles. But there were results which could hardly
have been anticipated. The pastor, cheered and
quickened by the presence of many children and by
overflowing audiences, preached with such fervour
and such evangelistic zeal as brought on a perennial
revival. In three months fifty-three converts were
received into church membership, and Sunday after
Sunday the great audiences were stirred and blessed.
Like most preachers whose congregations consist al-
most wholly of adults, the pastor had practically
ceased to take account of the children and rarely
lowered himself to their plane. With the presence
of goodly numbers of children, all of this was
changed. It quickly became apparent that the pastor
had readjusted his methods and that he had in con-
sequence gained a place in the hearts of the young
which he had not held before.
There were yet other results. The pastor was
brought into more vital support of the Sunday-school
program and the lines seem to be completely obliter-
ated between " the church " and " the Sunday
school." All came to feel instinctively that the
church was in the Sunday school and the Sunday
school was in the church. It became easy and natu-
ral for "the board of deacons" to vote the rather
large sums needed for the Sunday school.
We have introduced this discussion, not so much
176 A Successful Sunday School
because of the abstract interest in the question at
issue, but because of its bearing on the success of the
Sunday school. The largest Sunday schools which
we know, those numbering two thousand and up-
wards, all seem to gravitate toward the combined
service. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say
that the adoption of the combined service has helped
materially in their eiforts to attain their present nimi-
bers and efficiency. It is at least suggestive that suc-
cessful Sunday-school builders almost without ex-
ception incorporate this method in their plans.
We offer some observations and suggestions in this
connection.
1. So long as the Sunday school is conducted as
a complete service in entire separateness from the
preaching service, so long will we find large numbers
of Sunday-school pupils leaving when the Sunday
school is dismissed; so long will we find it difficult
for the pastor to lend the fullest pastoral support to
the Sunday school ; so long will there remain the in-
tangible but more or less real line between the Sun-
day school and the church.
2. Such readjustments as are involved in the iiir
troducing of the combined service must require time
and tact and patience. It will require time for the
people and especially the working forces to accustom
themselves to the new order; it will require tact on
the part of the superintendent and his associates in
assembling the school and creating a spirit of loyalty
to the preaching service; it will require patience on
the part of officers and teachers and pupils in the
adjustment of many details.
The Combined Service 177
3. Some things are essential to the success of the
combined service. Among these we may name punc-
tuahty all the way round. The departments must be
punctual in assembling in the auditorium; the super-
intendent must be punctual in conducting and con-
cluding his closing exercises; the pastor must be
punctual in opening his preaching service. A dispo-
sition to lag here and there with an occasional in-
fringement on the time of the preaching service will
produce inevitable confusion and dissatisfaction.
The Sunday school should be assembled in the audi-
torium by departments iind the several departments
should remain seated together for the preaching serv-
ice. There must be as little confusion and changing
of seats as possible just at the moment when the
pastor is introducing the worship service. Certain
space should be blocked off for each department.
Ushers should be carefully trained and must be alert
in seating the people who may be coming in for the
preaching service.
4. The meeting of the problems which arise in
introducing and managing the combined service are
such as require firmness, sympathy and initiative. It
is easy to run in old grooves and follow long-estab-
lished customs. It is far better to do this than to
undertake innovations unless there is clearly such co-
operative executive resource as promises a vigorous
and successful handling of the problems which are
sure to arise when innovations are made.
XXIV
WINNING TO CHRIST IN THE SUNDAY
SCHOOL
BIG Sunday schools have special perils. The
bending of energy toward the securing of
numbers, the spirit which may be engen-
dered by the very fact of large numbers, these and
other considerations may bring peril. The soul-win-
ning spirit, the evangelistic effort, must constitute the
salt which is to save and keep sweet our growing
Sunday schools.
Inviting and bringing the lost to the Saviour de-
pends rather upon spirit than method. It is more a
question of atmosphere than of direct effort. Happy
the workers who know the fine art of creating at-
mospheres favourable to evangelism. Once we have
created that fine intangible condition which we may
term a favouring atmosphere, the way is quite open
to success in winning the lost.
Only recently the author was in a service with a
pastor in which more than forty young people openly
and joyously confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Patient and faithful efforts, earnest prayers, many
visits, had prepared the way for the special service.
It was quickly manifest, as the pastor pressed the
claims of Christ and urged an immediate decision,
that somehow a favourable atmosphere had been cre-
ated. There was death-like stillness; every eye
seemed riveted on the preacher as he spoke. With-
out personal approach or individual persuasion in
178
Winning to Christ in the Sunday School 179
the compelling atmosphere which had been created,
the young people quietly and solemnly yielded their
hearts in surrender to the Lord Jesus and publicly
confessed Him as Saviour. Souls cannot be saved in
the midst of hurry and noise and confusion. Souls
cannot be won to Christ in an irreverent atmosphere.
Some one tells of a woman who spent a season in
a home where she had been hitherto a stranger.
When she was leaving the house, standing on the
threshold, she said to her hostess, " I do not know
what it is ; I cannot define it ; but something in your
home, something about you, has made me think
about Jesus. When I came to your home, I was
drifting and indifferent ; I had not been in your home
more than a few days until I felt a strange tugging at
my heart strings; a deep sense of my unworthiness
possessed me; to make a long story short, I got out
my long-neglected Bible and went down on my knees
and gave myself anew to God and His service. I do
not know what it is, I cannot define it, but some-
thing about you made me want to be good." We
know what that strange something was; it was the
fine indefinable atmosphere which certain devout
saints create about themselves.
A young farmer wooed and won a beautiful and
intelligent young Hebrew woman and brought her to
the family home. A few weeks later, this young
woman astonished the whole countryside by openly
confessing Christ and asking to be baptized into the
near-by country church. Telling the story of it to
a friend, she said, " I do not quite understand it my-
self. From childhood I was grounded in the faith
l8o A Successful Sunday School
of my fathers. But something about this home, I
cannot tell what it was, impressed me and created a
sense of lack. They never talked to me about their
Messiah — I should have resented it if they had — ^but
their quiet demeanour, their beautiful reverence,
their simple prayers at the table and at the family
altar, strangely affected me. One day when I was
alone I took out my Hebrew Bible and knelt before
my Hebrew God and I said, * Oh, God of my fa-
thers, if thou art the God and Father of this Lord
Jesus, if He is the promised Messiah, I want to
know it.* Light dawned; I saw and believed that
Jesus was the Son of the Living God." What was
it? Atmosphere, that wonderful irresistible some-
thing which some individuals and some churches
have a way of creating about themselves.
In winning the lost, it will help us to observe the
y departmental lines. We will wish to do our evan-
gelistic work, as we do our teaching work, by de-
partments. The advantages of departmentization
have been emphasized many times over. These ad-
vantages are many and great; one is led to wonder
whether the greatest of them all is not the contribu-
tion which is thus made to evangelism. The workers
' in each department should be departmentally trained
for this high task. The pastor or superintendent, or
both, will wish to deal with each department accord-
ing to its nature and its needs. The word of instruc-
tion, the prayer, the plea, will be adapted to the age
and development in each department. Pastors m
wide circles bear glad witness to the blessings which
come from this departmentizing of evangelistic ef-
Winning to Christ in the Sunday School 18 1
fort. Each department can be skillfully managed
with a view to the best spiritual fruitage.
By ministry to social instincts we may pave the
way for soul-winning. During the thirty years in
which Mr. Frank L. Brown was superintendent of
the Bushwick Avenue Methodist Sunday School in
Brooklyn, three thousand young people were led to
accept and confess Christ as Saviour. We get inter-
esting light on this remarkable record when we read
from Mr. Brown's own pen the following story:
" When I had a class of fourteen-year-old boys,
years ago, I made it a point to have them once a
month at my home for some eats and games. One
night the boys were playing a game of rolling
big agates on the parlour carpet, these agates
stopping as near as possible to a mark. In their
interest they forgot the carpet and dug big
ridges in it with their shoe tips. The next morn-
ing Mrs. Brown, then a young bride, came down
with me to the parlour : * Oh, Frank, my car-
pet, my carpet ? ' * Yes, my dear, but my boys, my
boys ! I think we've got the boys ! ' Twenty-five
years after, a popular judge asked me to sit beside
him on the bench while he sentenced the young pris-
oners. Always his first question was : * Did you go
to Sunday school? Why did you leave it? Why
did you get away from the influence of your teacher?
If I give you another chance, will you go back to
your teacher and to the school ? ' He told me that
rarely did the boys come before him again after that
advice. And later he introduced me to a judge of
the Supreme Court as his old Sunday-school teacher.
l82 A Successful Sunday School
He was one of those boys who dug up our parlour
carpet years before. And I said, * What's a mile of
carpet to a yard or two of boy?
Careful records should be kept with a view to
evangelism.
Back in the days when he was a pastor in Texas,
the author was permitted to lead his people in a
soul-winning campaign which based itself largely
upon a careful record of the spiritual condition of
the members of the Sunday school. These records
were made by departments. The teachers were
urged to visit the pupils and interview them person-
ally, partly with a view to securing accurate infor-
mation and partly in order to give notice in many
circles of the evangelistic efforts which were pro-
posed. Special cards were prepared for this purpose
as follows:
INFORMATION CARD
To be Filled Out by the Teacher After a Visit to the Home.
Form For Those Not Church Members.
Name
Address
Grade and Department ?
Regular Church Attendant ?
Ever made profession ?
Any evidence of interest ?
Religious condition of parents ?
(i) Father. Is he a church member ?
Where ? . .
(2) Mother. Is she a church member ?
Where ?
Add remarks, if desired, on other side of this card,
, Teacher.
Date
Winning to Christ in the Sunday School 183
When this information had been secured, it was
placed before the Workers' Council. To the Junior
workers, this statement was made : " Of our seventy-
Juniors, twenty-six are behevers, having confessed
Christ; forty- four, their names and addresses being
on these cards, are not saved."
To the Intermediate Workers, announcement was
made thus : " We have thirty-eight in your depart-
ment who have confessed Christ; thirty-six Interme-
diate boys and girls are yet unsaved; their names and
addresses are recorded on these cards."
Similar announcement was made to the workers in
the Senior and Adult Departments. In the entire
school there were ninety-nine pupils, from the Junior
age up, who could make no claim to the salvation
which comes through Jesus Christ. All vagueness
was dispelled; each department knew the names and
addresses of its members who were lost. The task
of winning them to Christ immediately assumed a
definiteness and offered a challenge which had not
been felt before. Copies of the cards were made and
each teacher was given a full record of the unsaved
in his class. All went into a special campaign, work-
ing together, by personal approach, by appeals from
the platform, in the Sunday school and preaching
services, for the winning of the ninety-nine whose
names were listed. From week to week the cards
were checked up and those who confessed Christ
were taken from the list of the unconverted and
added to the list of the saved. At the end of three
months, without any special meetings, it was found
that fifty-five had been baptized.
184 A Successful Sunday School
In order to secure a definite committal to seek the
Lord, the unconverted were asked to sign the follow-
ing card:
SEEKING JESUS
Knowing myself to be a sinner in need of a Saviour, I desire
to seek the Lord and become a Christian. I ask the prayers
of the church that I may be saved.
Name
Grade (or age)
Address
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. (John 3 : 16.)
In order to keep accurate information and also to
send the announcement to the home, pupils who ac-
cepted Qirist were asked to sign in duplicate the fol-
lowing card, one copy being kept by the pastor, the
other being taken to the parents :
CONFESSION CARD
As a sinner lost and helpless, I take Jesus to be my Saviour
from sin. I love Him and trust Him as my Saviour and Lord.
It is my desire to be baptized in His name and it is my pur-
pose to obey and serve Him.
Name ,
Grade (or age)
Address
As many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
(John I ; 12.)
Winning to Christ in the Sunday School 185
References:
With Christ After the Lost L. R. Scarborough
Winning to Christ — A Study in EvangeHsm,
P. E. Burroughs
The Sunday School as a Soul Winner,
J. L. Hurlbut
Passion for Souls Jowett
Spiritual Life in the Sunday School Chapman
The Child for Christ McKinney
Pastoral and Personal Evangelism Goodsell
How Can I Lead My Pupils to Christ? Pell
Early Conversion of Sunday-School Scholars,
Schauffler
Bringing the Pupil to a Decision for Christ. . .Mabie
Method in Soul Winning Mabie
Decision Day in the Sunday School Chapman
A Soul-Saving Sunday School Wells
Individual Work for Individuals Trumbull
Catching Men Alive Trumbull
The Personal Worker's Guide Chapman
Studies for Personal Workers Johnston
How to Bring Men to Christ Torrey
The Helping Hand Hamilton
APPENDIX
Suggested Questions
Chapter I.
1. Discuss some elements in a successful Sunday
school.
2. What is meant by the "possibilities" of a
Sunday school?
3. If choice must be made between the " educa-
tor " type of superintendent and the " promoter **
type, as set forth in this chapter, which is to be pre-
ferred ? Why ?
4. Discuss the " one unanswerable argument " in
favour of the largest Sunday school possible.
5. Name some very large Sunday schools of
which you chance to know.
Chapter II.
1. Discuss and justify the statement that efficient
Sunday schools grow great churches.
2. Show how the Sunday school offers a complete
and effective method of church organization.
3. Show the part which the Sunday school plays
in promoting Bible Study.
4. Discuss the Sunday school as a means of en-
listing large numbers in useful service and indicate
the advantage of such enlistment.
186
Appendix 187
5. What bearing does the Sunday school have on
attendance at the preaching service?
6. What of the Sunday school as an evangelistic
agency ?
Chapter III.
1. What is the outstanding feature of present-
day Sunday-school organization?
2. Indicate the department lines in the system
earlier adopted for Sunday-school organization.
3. What department lines have been more re-
cently adopted?
4. Which of these schemes do you prefer?
Why?
5. Note some barriers to the departmentization
of the Sunday school.
6. What is the generally accepted basis of classi-
fication ?
7. What as to the number in the classes ?
8. What relative numbers are to be expected in
the various departments?
9. When would it seem desirable to subdivide
the departments?
Chapter IF.
1. Discuss briefly the methods proposed for se-
curing new workers for the Sunday school.
2. What is suggested as the best method?
Chapter V.
I. How far does your judgment approve the
l88 A Successful Sunday School
statement concerning the outstanding barrier to the
growth of our Sunday schools ?
2. Have we the moral right to ask people to
attend our Sunday school where we have not suitable
room for them?
3. What allowance shall be made for pupils
throughout the Sunday school ?
4. Show what space should be allowed for each
of the departments in a school of 300.
5. Why should department rooms be sound-
proof?
6. In what departments are class rooms most
desirable ?
7. Why should the auditorium be used for gen-
eral assemblies of the Sunday school?
8. Are separate Sunday-school buildings desir-
able? Why?
9. Indicate some special rooms which should be
provided.
Chapter VL
1. Discuss briefly the danger that new buildings
will be planned on an inadequate scale.
2. What of the danger of making financial con-
siderations primary?
3. Show how peril lies in the fact that a " sharp
turn " has been made In Sunday-school organization.
4. Why may the architect himself constitute a
possible barrier in the way of securing what we
need?
5. Show how a spirit of haste may imperil the
building project.
Appendix 189
Chapter VII.
1. Give schedule of probable building require-
ments for a building which must offer 800 seatings
in the auditorium and provide for 1,000 in the Sun-
day school.
2. Reproduce in brief outline the standard for
church and Sunday-school buildings.
3. Indicate changes, if any, which you would
suggest in this Standard.
Chapter VIII.
1. Name the three best Sunday-school buildings
which you have personally inspected.
2. What is meant by the " unified type " of build-
ing?
Chapter IX,
1. What of the need for trained church architects
in the remodeling of church buildings?
2. Why should we feel special interest in the one-
room church building?
3. Indicate a half dozen methods of remodeling
the one-room building.
Chapter X.
1. Discuss the types of seating required for the
Sunday school.
2. What as to Sunday-school cabinets?
3. Which of the tables suggested most commends
itself? Why?
190 A Successful Sunday School
Chapter XL
1. Give in outline the plan proposed for building
a Sunday school.
2. Outline the essential steps in taking a Sunday-
school census.
3. Show how a large Sunday school may be built
first on paper and then made a reality.
Chapter XII.
1. Discuss briefly the six suggestions set forth in
this chapter.
2. Outline the plan suggested for building a large
down-town class.
Chapter XIII.
1. What is your own estimate of the value of
outside organizations, such as are discussed in this
chapter, in the building of a Sunday school ?
2. Name the organizations which you consider
most helpful.
3. Discuss the organized class as a means of
building the Sunday school.
Chapter XIV,
1. Why should social life be departmentized ?
2. What of the relative value of social and recre-
ational activities?
3. Show how the church building may be adapted
to meet social needs.
4. Name some books which may be helpful in
guiding social life.
Appendix 191
Chapter XV.
1. Indicate some difficulties as regards the gym-
nasium and the swimming pool.
2. What is your own estimate of the value of
these recreations in church life?
Chapter XVI.
1. State some methods of advertising a Sunday
school.
2. What is your own estimate of the propriety
and value of advertising the Sunday school ?
Chapter XVIL
1. Why the lunch in connection with a teachers*
meeting ?
2. State briefly the angle method of conducting a
teachers' meeting.
Chapter XVIII .
Indicate at least four reasons why teachers must
be trained.
Chapter XIX.
1. What of the value of records in the Sunday
school ?
2. What six points are stressed in the Six-Point
Record System?
3. Why the necessity for care and accuracy in
the keeping of records ?
Chapter XX.
I. What are some week-day activities in which
the Sunday school may engage?
192 A Successful Sunday School
2. What are some tests for social activities pro-
posed by Mr. Walter M. Wood?
3. Which of these proposed activities impresses
you as most needed and most practically helpful ?
Chapter XXL
1. Discuss the value of special days.
2. Indicate some perils which arise in connection
with special days.
Chapter XXII .
1. What is your own estimate of the value of
standards in Sunday-school work?
2. What possible danger do we face in connec-
tion with standards?
Chapter XXIIL
1. State some considerations which favour the
*' combined service."
2. Indicate some essentials to success in handling
the combined course.
Chapter XXIV,
1. What of the meaning of " atmosphere " in
soul-winning ?
2. Why observe departmental lines in soul-win-
ning?
3. What of the value of records in soul- winning?
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